US Indicts Mauritanian Man involvement in the deadly restaurant attacks in Mali

A Mauritanian man who participated in attacks in 2015 that killed dozens of people, including an American, and for which he was given the death penalty in Mali, has been extradited to the United States to face a six-count indictment for the same offense, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Saturday.

Fawaz Ould Ahmed was apprehended by American authorities and transferred to New York on Friday, according to a statement from the Justice Department. Ahmed was given the death penalty in Mali after he admitted that he was the one who planned and carried out the attacks that killed Westerners.

According to the Justice Department, Ahmed, 44, is accused of killing American Anita Ashok Datar and of conspiring to promote al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and al-Mourabitoun, two organizations that the United States has classified as terrorist organizations.

A U.S. Magistrate Judge named James R. Cho told the police to keep Ahmed in jail until his trial.

According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, Ahmed “finally faces justice in a U.S. courtroom for the carnage that was allegedly carried out at his order.”

In 2020, Ahmed testified before a Malian court that he was responsible for the murder of five people at the La Terrace restaurant and that he also planned raids on the Hotel Byblos in Sevare and the Radisson Blu in Bamako.

In all, 38 people perished in the three events, according to the Justice Department.

According to FBI associate director-in-charge Michael Driscoll, the defendant is accused of planning and carrying out vicious terrorist attacks. These alleged activities “were not forgotten and will not be forgiven.”

The 2015 attacks signaled a daring new chapter in terrorist operations across West Africa. They took place just months after Islamist militants in Paris raided the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and shot dead 12 people. The campaign targeted upscale hotels and locations that Western tourists, aid workers, and diplomats visit.

Ahmed told the Malian court that he didn’t feel bad about the attacks and that he wanted to get back at Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

According to Reuters, which cited local authorities, he was apprehended in Bamako in 2016 while he was ready to carry out another attack on al-Mourabitoun with grenades and a suitcase full of weaponry.