How did Abdesalem Lassoued, who murdered two Swedish nationals in Brussels on October 16 in the name of the "Islamic State," manage to escape the vigilance of the intelligence services so many times? The 45-year-old's remarkable journey – up until he was killed by Belgian police the day after his attack – has highlighted the failings of several European countries' security services and their lack of coordination with Tunisia, which the terrorist took advantage of.
In Tunisia, little has been revealed about Lassoued's background prior to his 26-year prison sentence in 2005. He was 28 at the time and accused of two attempted murders and one act of arson, according to the Belgian authorities. The Tunisian Interior Ministry and the Public Prosecutor's Office have declined to comment, but a Tunisian television channel, Hannibal TV, managed to record statements from his parents, which were broadcast on October 21. They said they were astonished by their son's act, mentioning only his "impulsive" behavior. His father said his son "had problems like today's boys," and that after leaving school at the age of 10, he had worked for some time as a vegetable vendor. Little is still known about the years leading up to his conviction in Tunisia for common law crimes, or about his political and religious orientation at the time.
In any case, for Lassoued, the Tunisian revolution was an opportunity to make his escape from the Gabes prison, in the country's southeast, where he was serving his sentence. On January 14, 2011 – the day after President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled – Lassoued escaped, as did more than a third of the country's 30,000 prisoners. He took advantage of a mutiny and returned to his hometown of Sfax. "I wasn't there," said his father, "but local youths told him not to stay, or he'd be arrested, so he fled after a few days."
He then decided to leave the country illegally for the Italian island of Lampedusa, which had already been experiencing a massive influx of migrants. At the time, Italy had decided to grant temporary residence permits to allow migrants to travel to other Schengen countries. Lassoued took advantage of this measure: Registered with the immigration authorities in Turin, he traveled first to France and then to Portugal, where people he knew offered him a job, according to his father. "But he soon stopped because it was in the alcohol industry," he said. The young man then left Portugal for Oslo in Norway, where he joined one of his cousins.
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