Romain Caillet: Suspicious source for some French media outlets

The French newspaper Journal du Dimanche wrote on Thursday a “defamatory article” against Egyptian journalist and anchorman Dr. Abdel Rahim Ali, titled "Marine Le Pen invites a person obsessed with the Zionist conspiracy to French Parliament," depending on some tweets posted by a controversial researcher.

The newspaper has quoted Romain Caillet, who claimed that he was a researcher in terrorism affairs, without taking into the consideration that he was a member of the banned group of the Muslims Brotherhood and was listed on the French “Fichier S” for people who bear pro-extremism ideologies.

As Caillet has branded himself as a researcher specialized in the Jihadi Islam for French media outlets, French BfMTV, owned by Israeli telecom tycoon Bertek Drahi, signed a contract with him to work as a consultant in terrorism affairs. However, the company has annulled the contract in May 2016, after it was revealed by French newspaper Nouvel Observateur that Caillet was labeled “S” by the French anti-terrorism services for many years.

According to the Nouvel Observateur, Caillet was speaking on Islamist forums under the pseudonym "Colonel Salafi", adding that he did not hide his stances in favor of jihad. He lived in Egypt and then Jordan and Lebanon.

He stayed in Lebanon for five years but then was expelled in March 2015 for obscure reasons per a decision by the Lebanese General Security. Caillet was accused of having links with Qatar-sponsored terrorist groups, particularly in Syria.

The controversial “researcher” converted to Islam in 1997, at the age of 20. Then he moved to Egypt and had connections with the Muslim Brotherhood for many years.

As per the French investigation, Caillet was living in an apartment in the 8th district of Egypt’s Nasr City early 2005, with French extremists including Fabien Clain , a French jihadist who plotted for the Paris bombings in November 2015. Caillet was interrogated by the French Anti-Terrorism Branch (SDAT) the French Judicial Police in 2008. He was then released on condition to be listed under the “Fichier S.”