Bryan d’Ancona, a 26-year-old Frenchman from Nice and suspected of being a jihadist who had joined Syria at the end of 2013, presented himself at the beginning of May at the French consulate in Istanbul, asking to return to France. He was accompanied by his daughter, said a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from France Télévisions and the Terrorism Analysis Center (CAT).
Targeted by an arrest warrant, he should be expelled from Türkiye. On his return to France, he risks being prosecuted for “criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise”. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment. The lawyer of the mother of the young man, Samia Maktouf, solicited, had not answered Monday.
Influenced by Omar Diaby?
Bryan d’Ancona was not yet 17 when, recently converted to Islam, he joined Syria on December 27, 2013 with only his identity card. In Nice, he had made no secret of his desire to join armed jihadist groups. He would have been influenced by Omar Diaby, Nice like him, at the head of a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, active in the Syrian North-West, according to France Télévisions.
From Syria, in 2016 he answered questions from journalists from France 2’s “Complément d’Enquête”. In this program, Kalashnikov in hand, he claimed to have already “killed”. According to France Télévisions, he would have married religiously with a Frenchwoman who arrived in 2019. The couple had a daughter before separating.