Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a former British rapper-turned-jihadi, has been found dead in his prison cell in Spain.
The 32-year-old was awaiting the verdict on terror charges after being tried in a court in Madrid. He was suspected of leading a jihadist cell formed after leaving Syria.
The lifeless body of Abdel Bary was discovered at El Puerto III Prison in Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz, southwest Spain.
There were no apparent signs of violence on his body. An internal investigation by the Spanish Prison Service will take place, and his family will have the right to conduct their own autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Abdel Bary, born in Egypt but raised in London, was stripped of his British citizenship for allegedly joining ISIS.
He was arrested in April 2020, along with two men described as aides, shortly after being smuggled onto a beach on Spain's southeast coastline.
During his trial in Madrid's Audiencia Nacional court, which concluded on July 14, Abdel Bary denied all terrorism charges and claimed he had gone to Syria for humanitarian reasons.
Prosecutors accused him of using Bitcoin to purchase stolen or cloned bank cards on the Dark Web.
The former rapper was also alleged to have posted an image of himself holding a severed head on Twitter, although he denied the accusation during the trial.
He had been identified as a possible member of a group known as "The Beatles," which guarded, tortured, and beheaded foreign hostages in Syria.
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary's death in prison adds another layer of complexity to the case and will undoubtedly raise questions about the circumstances surrounding his demise.
