From Sfax to the Nice offensive, Ibrahim El Ouissawi’s “extraordinary” trip shocked his family

When he called them late Thursday morning via video, the suspect in the Nice bombing, Ibrahim El-Ouesawi, told his family that he had just arrived in Nice and found a place at the foot of the steps of a building opposite the church, where he would sleep and rest a little.

A few hours later, French police said the young Tunisian entered the church, killed two people and beheaded a woman. Repeat “God is great.”

Ibrahim’s brother Yassin El-Ouesawi told Reuters: “He told us that he had just arrived and that he did not know anyone there … He said he would leave the building in the morning and find a Tunisian to speak to him to see if he could stay with them or find work. ”

His brother Yassin added, in another statement to Agence France-Presse, saying: “This is unusual,” expressing his amazement at the speed with which Ibrahim (21 years old) arrived and carried out the attack.

Ibrahim Al-Owaisawi was arrested for violent crime and knife use four years ago as a teenager. He gave up drugs and alcohol and continued to pray, but he was not on any Tunisian or French list of suspected jihadists, according to police in the two countries.

Thursday’s attack ended when police fired at al-Awsawi, leaving him in critical condition. He was carrying a Koran and the long knife used for killing. Police said they found other knives near her bag.

At the Al-Awassawi Battinah family home in the Sfax suburb, her parents and nine siblings cry as they talk about the shock.

When television reports showed the scene of the attack, they recognized the place at first glance and said that he had spoken to them from the building where he was receiving treatment after the police shot him.

They have not seen their son Ibrahim since September, when he boarded a small boat bound for Lampedusa, a small Italian island only 130 km away and a major arrival point for migrants to Europe.

Ibrahim did not tell his family about his immigration plan, knowing that his mother refused to do so, but he insisted on going this time after failing last year, like many of his colleagues in the region and in many parts of the country who they dream of reaching Europe in search of quick profits and improving their miserable conditions. .

Yassin spoke in surprise about his brother’s ambitions, saying: “He used to say that I want to work, get married and buy a house and a car like everyone else.”

Yassin Ibrahim does not want to believe that his brother was the one who carried out this heinous operation, like the rest of the family, which he says could be a regular spectator there, and got caught in a crime he witnessed, and was not part of it.

His family and neighbors say he was selling smuggled fuel at a small fuel station in the area.

Ibrahim arrived in Italy, where he had lived on the island of Lampedusa since September 20, before moving to Italy on October 8.

His family said Al-Ouesawi arrived in France on Wednesday. While thousands of Muslims around the world protested against the French government’s response to the murder of a teacher.

The suspect in the Nice attack called his family to inform them that he had left Italy. His mother, Gamrah, said, “You have no education. You don’t know the language. Why did you go there?” He replied, “Mom, I just need your invitations.”

The French prosecutor said that after arriving in Nice around dawn on Thursday, he spent about an hour and a half at the train station, then put on new shoes and the attack took place after that.

“His behavior was not suspicious.”

The Al-Awassawi family had been living in Tina since Ibrahim was a baby, and he is one of three boys and seven girls in the family after they moved there, hailing from a remote area in Kairouan called Bouhajla.

His sister Afaf told Reuters that Ibrahim dropped out of school early and that he is not fluent in any language except Arabic.

Al-Awsawi worked mechanically before saving a little money to buy a fuel pump that could help him provide what he needed to get to the other bank.

His family and neighbors say he was not known to hold militant views or to be affiliated with jihadist circles, and that he did not regularly visit the mosque in the area.

Ibrahim had been praying a lot at home for about two years, his brother said, after giving up alcohol and drugs.

Ashraf Ferjani, a neighbor of Al-Awsawi, said: “His behavior was never suspicious. I have never heard of his dealings with extremist groups or anything related to terrorism or extremism.”

His mother was crying as she spoke to Reuters about her son.

The family is now under investigation and the police confiscated some of their phones.

Contrary to what the French police and witnesses say, his brother says: “Maybe the attack happened and he heard something, so he ran to see what had happened and shot him.”