André Poulin

Poulin was born in Timmins, Ontario, Canada, in 1990. He worked as a local street janitor and earned approximately 2,000 Canadian dollars per month before converting to Islam in 2008.^[4] Before converting, Poulin showed interest in both communism and anarchism.^[5] After he followed a strict interpretation of Islam which radicalized him. He read The Anarchist Cookbook to learn about explosives, became violent towards people he knew, and had an affair with a married woman also threatening her husband for not being religious enough which earned him a couple weeks in jail.^[6] After his incarceration, Poulin spent significant time online, during which he made threats to bomb a local gas station.^[7]

In late 2012 Poulin left Canada for Syria to join with the Katibat al-Muhajireen (Brigade of the Emigrants),^[8][9] at the same time Mohammed Emwazi joined ISIS.^[10] During Poulin's time in Syria, Poulin recruited 5 other Canadians to join ISIS. Poulin had met the recruits in 2011 and radicalized over the next few years, though 3 of his recruits were rescued by their families before crossing into Syria from Lebanon the rest stayed to join ISIS.^[11] After Poulin arrived in Syria he married a woman, who then got pregnant before she passed.^[12]

Poulin participated in the siege of Menagh Air Base against both Free Syrian Army militants and Ba'athist soldiers.^[13] During this siege, on August 8, 2013, Poulin joined other militants in an attempt to seize the air base during the offensive. This caused him to be hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and subsequently be killed.^[14]

Approximately a year after Poulin's death on July 2014, the Islamic State's official media-wing al-Hayat Media Center produced a video entitled "The Chosen Few of Different Lands" which is 11-minutes long showing Poulin (shown under the alias Abu Muslim) making statements to potential recruits on how he was a regular Canadian and that they can join ISIS.^[15] Poulin stated that ISIS needed more than just fighters for the so-called mujahideen and ISIS needs engineers, doctors, et cetera.^[16] The video was professionally edited and included stock footage from North America, such as clips from official Alberta tourism videos.^[17]