Mohammed Bel Hadj Amor left Tunisia for Syria in 2012 at the age of 19. The Islamic State group intercepted him, and he was then detained by the Syrian government.
In a voicemail left for his mother, Amor told of his captivity by Syrian forces and claimed he wasn’t there to fight.
“They’re investigating. They insist that you say that you are there to fight,” he said in the voicemail from January 6.
“They like that. They don’t like it when you say you are there for aid. They like that you say, you are there to fight.”
Tunisia is one of the world’s biggest exporters of jihadi fighters. But now it is seeing young men trained by the Islamic State returning home.
Protesters are pressing for a plan to deal with them.
“We don’t know how these people can come back and have the same values as we do,” said Dr. Boutheina Chihi Ezzine, organizer of protests against the return of suspected Tunisian extremists currently abroad.
In 2015 a Tunisian trained by IS in Libya opened fire on a beach here, picking off tourists as they sunbathed. Two others stormed the galleries of Tunis’ Bardo museum, a popular destination for foreign visitors.
The government is careful to say that any Tunisian who wants to return can do so, but says it jails the most dangerous jihadis that have returned and monitors the rest.
“Article 25 of the (Tunisian) constitution says that it is forbidden to deprive a Tunisian of his citizenship and to prevent him from returning home. Therefore we treat this subject with all the seriousness and responsibility that it deserves. The legal system has the last word,” said Chafik Hajji, director general of consular affairs at Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry.
Advocacy groups are assisting those who wish to return, and trying to help determine who poses a threat.
“There are terrorists, there are innocents, and there are those who have been indoctrinated. You have to classify them,” said Mohammed Iqbel, head of Rescue Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad.
By official count, around 3,000 Tunisians have joined the Islamic State and other extremist groups. Many analysts believe the real number is at least double that.
Amor’s family is still unsure of their son’s whereabouts. He was released by Syrian forces last month.
“My son is still the same person he was before. He wants to come back to Tunisia. He wants to earn money and support his family. He wants to live with me,” said Rabia Farjallah, 50-year-old mother of Mohammed Bel Hadj Amor.
Amor’s intentions are also still unclear. The man who persuaded him to go to Syria has himself died fighting for IS.
(AP)
