Willie Virgile Brigitte is a convicted criminal, who was deported from Australia in 2003 for breaching the terms of his tourist visa and, upon arrival in France, was charged and convicted in Paris in 2007 for associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise, including a plot to damage the Lucas Heights High Flux Australian Reactor and the Holsworthy Barracks, both located in Sydney, Australia.
23 Facts About Willie Brigitte
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Willie Brigitte is a French convert to Islam who associated with al-Qaeda.
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Willie Brigitte was born on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France.
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Willie Brigitte moved to Paris for his final year of schooling, but chose to join the navy instead of sitting for the baccalaureate.
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Willie Brigitte served for three years, though deserted the military twice.
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Willie Brigitte read widely, including the Qur'an, and at the age of 30, in 1998, he decided to embrace Islam in full.
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Willie Brigitte adopted several new names, including Mohammed Abderrahman, Mohammed Ibrahim Abderrahman, Abou Maimouna, Salahouddin, Jamal and 'Abderrahman the West Indian'.
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Willie Brigitte was taken on oddly strenuous camping trips, believed by French intelligence to be designed by Islamist recruiters to identify suitable fighters.
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Willie Brigitte was prevented from entering Afghanistan due to the war, and instead spent four months training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistan, where he received instruction in weapons handling and explosives.
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Willie Brigitte was reticent to him as well, and Keita became suspicious when Willie Brigitte asked if he could borrow his driving licence.
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In May 2003, Willie Brigitte left Paris for Australia, using a ticket provided to him by Mir.
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Willie Brigitte did not tell Keita where he was going.
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Willie Brigitte is alleged to have stayed with Faheem Khalid Lodhi, better known as Abu Hamza, a Pakistani-born, Australian-naturalized contact of Mir, living in South-western Sydney.
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Willie Brigitte worked at a halal restaurant in the center of Sydney, and along with fraternising with a select number of associates of Hamza, he kept in constant contact with Mir by phone.
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Willie Brigitte had an interest in aboriginal issues, and he joined and trained at a gym run by Tony Mundine.
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Brown, like Willie Brigitte, was a convert to Islam, and had served in the Australian Army as a signaller in East Timor.
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Willie Brigitte took her conversion to Islam quite seriously, and was eager to marry a Muslim man, although Abu Hamza saw her as a possible security risk and somebody who would take up space in his apartment.
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Willie Brigitte aggressively sought information from Brown about the Australian Army, its equipment and its operations, including details of the Pine Gap joint defence facility.
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Willie Brigitte was promptly arrested on grounds of breaching the non-employment stipulations of his tourist visa, and sent to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.
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Willie Brigitte was held incommunicado, and was interviewed by ASIO officers.
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Willie Brigitte was largely uncooperative though he was represented by his lawyer Harry Durimel.
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Willie Brigitte was deported and sent back to France that month, where he was arrested on arrival.
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Willie Brigitte's case came to trial in February 2007, charged under French law with "associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise".