Ahmad Najjar, an engineer and long-time employee at the Tunisian Institute for Statistics (a government organization), mysteriously disappeared last April, leaving his relatives worried and confused. Najjar’s colleagues anxiously watched papers awaiting his signature pile up on his desk.

When some of Najjar’s colleagues went to his house to inquire about his health, they found it eerily silent, with Najjar’s government car parked in the courtyard. Car keys were left on the back seat along with some administrative stamps, unimportant documents and a small, empty bag.

Ahmad Najjar, an engineer and long-time employee at the Tunisian Institute for Statistics (a government organization), mysteriously disappeared last April, leaving his relatives worried and confused. Najjar’s colleagues anxiously watched papers awaiting his signature pile up on his desk.

When some of Najjar’s colleagues went to his house to inquire about his health, they found it eerily silent, with Najjar’s government car parked in the courtyard. Car keys were left on the back seat along with some administrative stamps, unimportant documents and a small, empty bag.

The public office began an investigation into Najjar’s whereabouts when management finally learned that their faithful civil servant had joined militants fighting in Syria, after he had sworn allegiance to the self-proclaimed Islamic State. And, he used 7,000 dinars worth of (US $3,500) embezzled money (from a petrol allocation he was responsible for) to finance his trip for himself and his wife and three-year-old child.

Drastic changes

One of Najjar’s colleagues at work, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was not surprised about the news of his colleague.

“Ahmad was a young man, brimming over with enthusiasm and energy, but he drastically changed after he grew his beard and forced his young wife to wear the niqab,” he explained and added that Ahmad refused to shake hands with his female colleagues and deliberately turned his eyes away when they talked to him.

What was shocking to Ahmad’s colleagues and acquaintances and even to his own family members was that he took his wife and three-year-old daughter with him to Syria, where the raging battles claim dozens of lives every day.

His colleague explained how Ahmad’s family had at first refused to accept the news that he had traveled to Syria to join the fighters there. He recalled that his sister attacked Ahmad’s colleagues and accused them of trying to tarnish her brother’s image and destroy his future career.

A few weeks later, however, the worst fears of Ahmad’s family came true when he called to inform them that he was in the Syrian city of Raqqa “fighting God’s enemies.” That news came as a big shock to the entire family, particularly his elderly, bed-ridden father.

He loved life

According to close family sources, Ahmad was a peaceful young man who loved life and did extremely well in his studies in statistical engineering and graduated from college with honors. His excellent results enabled him to find a job at the National Institute for Statistics without difficulty.

Thanks to his perseverance, Najjar won the confidence of his superiors at work and was promoted within record time until he was appointed director at the northwestern region in charge of its population census file.

Before the popular uprising, Ahmad was an ordinary young man with nothing about him to reveal his religious devoutness. However, early in 2012, Ahmad became more introverted, silent and dissociated from his colleagues, according to one of his female colleagues who preferred to remain anonymous.

“I noticed that he avoided speaking to me or shaking hands with me,” she said.  “Whenever I spoke to him, he would lower his gaze. Once, I heard that he forced his wife to wear the niqab and when I asked him about the reason, he was angry and said God ordained us to act like that. He said that we were all leading a misguided life and that we would end up in hellfire. He also said that our country needed a new Islamic conquest.

I used to mock him and tell him that he spoke like an old man and not the young Ahmad I used to know, to which he would react angrily and leave me alone. Still, despite his odd behavior, I would never have thought he would join ISIS.”

Some 3000 Tunisian militants have been lured into fighting jihad through social networking sites or by some mosques controlled by radical Islamist leaders, according to local Tunisian media.