Ali Charaf Damache (born 21 August 1965) is a citizen of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

who was the first suspected terrorist to be

extradite In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

d to the US during the first Donald Trump presidency. He was alleged to have been the ringleader of a cell tasked with killing

Lars Vilks Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021) was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy, the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad. Many years earlier he had created ...

, a Swedish artist some Muslims accused of blasphemy for having drawn the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in a cartoon. Although he was born in Algeria, he grew up in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 2009, Damache married Jamie Paulin Ramirez, an American convert to Islam he met online, through a dating site for American Muslims. Ramirez would go by the nickname ''"Jihad Jamie"'', and would eventually receive an 8-year sentence for playing a role in the plot to kill Vilks. Ramirez and

Colleen LaRose Colleen Renée LaRose (born June 5, 1963), also known as Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose, is an American citizen who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for terrorism-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and providing material ...

, another American convert to Islam, traveled to Ireland to participate in the murder plot. Ramirez and Damache wed the day she arrived in Ireland. Both Ramirez and LaRose were blonde, with blue eyes. Commentators would assert that Damache and his colleagues sought out blonde-haired, blue-eyed converts because, once radicalized, they would find it easy to cross borders without suspicion. Law enforcement officials in

arrested Damache and six other individuals, in Ireland, in 2010, after learning of the plot against Vilks. LaRose, who went by the nickname ''"Jihad Jane"'', is reported to have tipped off authorities herself, after she grew disenchanted with Damache. While he had impressed her, online, she was disappointed after meeting him in person, and seeing he had trouble paying his bills. LaRose returned to the US, where she pled guilty and received a ten-year sentence. Damache was only charged with sending a threatening text message. Damache was arrested by the Irish police pursuant to an extradition request from the United States but was released by an Irish court. Spain arrested Damache, in December 2015, at the request of the US. The US had charged Damache with trying to recruit others to terrorism, and leading the cell that included LaRose. The US announced they had received Damache on July 21, 2017. In 2018 Damache pleaded guilty to terrorism offences and received a 15-year jail sentence. He was notified by the Minister for Justice of Ireland of the intention to revoke his Irish citizenship, but he appealed this in the Irish courts. In October 2020 he won his appeal on the grounds of the unconstitutionality of the relevant section of the Irish citizenship act.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damache, Ali Charaf Living people 1965 births People convicted on terrorism charges People extradited from Spain Foreign nationals imprisoned in Spain People extradited to the United States Algerian people imprisoned in the United States