Paris knife attacker had long history of involvement with jihadist groups
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Transcript
00:00 For more on this story, I'm joined in the studio by Wassim Nass.
00:04 Wassim, first of all, tell us more about who this attacker is.
00:09 What is his background?
00:10 Well, actually, this is someone who's into jihadi ideology since a long time.
00:15 He was in contact with a group called Fursan Al-Azza, which was one of the first groups
00:19 in France to be active on those issues, while he was 15 years old.
00:24 And then he was in contact with two terrorists who committed two attacks here in France,
00:28 in Manianville, in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray.
00:30 He was in contact with French jihadis in Syria.
00:33 He tried himself to go to Syria in 2016, but he was arrested because he was preparing an
00:39 attack at La Défense, which is in the suburbs of Paris, and he was convicted of five years
00:45 of imprisonment.
00:46 He did four, and then he went out after going through what they call a deradicalization
00:52 process that was in a few months.
00:56 In fact, it ended in March of 2023.
01:02 The follow-up of his psychological health was ended, and he was considered as not dangerous
01:09 anymore.
01:10 And now, he left a video to explain what he had done, and it seems from what you're telling
01:18 us that this is not one of those lone wolf attacks.
01:21 There's a lot of organization and planning behind it.
01:23 Well, actually, it shows that ideologically he is on the path of the Islamic State because
01:29 he praises the jihadis of the Islamic State all over the world, saying like area by area,
01:34 Africa, Sinai, Yemen, et cetera, et cetera, Pakistan, Afghanistan.
01:38 And then he vows allegiance to the actual caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Hafs, which
01:43 puts his action in this frame, actually.
01:47 And it is very similar with the killer of Aras a few months back, who killed a teacher
01:54 who didn't claim it himself, but it was found on his phone.
01:57 The same procedure was found.
01:59 And we have to remember it is the first time that a convicted jihadi activist goes out
02:06 of prison and commits an attack here in France, and it's the second time in Europe.
02:11 The first was in Vienna in November 2020, and it was the same profile, meaning someone
02:16 wanted to go to Syria, gets arrested, goes into prison, deradicalization, and then he
02:22 goes out seemingly as deradicalized, but actually he ends up committing an attack.
02:29 So it's the first in France, the second in Europe.
02:31 We cannot say yet if it's a trend, but both of them, and even the latest in Aras and even
02:36 the attack that was committed in Brussels also a few weeks back, are in the same frame
02:42 of the Islamic State, because even when he talks, he didn't talk about Gaza or Palestine
02:47 in his video, but even in the exchange of words with the policeman when he got arrested,
02:53 he talked about Palestine, but not in the frame of Hamas, because he even published
02:59 on his social media things that are very critical of Hamas, accusing Hamas of being very close
03:04 of Iran.
03:05 Now, there is another debate growing here in the political class in France, which is
03:11 those who are focusing mostly on the terrorist links and those who are trying to focus more
03:17 on his mental health issues.
03:19 Tell us more about that.
03:20 Well, actually, yes, that's the political game between brackets, because the Minister
03:24 of Interior will say, "Okay, it's the fault of the medical staff," and the medical staff
03:29 will say, "It's the fault of the intelligence services."
03:32 But actually it's in between, because being a jihadi is political before anything, but
03:40 people who commit such acts have also slight psychological maybe problems.
03:45 But the interesting thing about this is that he was psychologically followed while in jail.
03:51 And when we know the conditions of imprisonment of people who are accused of terrorism, it
03:58 makes a psychological follow-up necessary, and even that's the way it goes.
04:04 There's no other way around it.
04:05 Deradicalization means that there's a psychological follow-up.
04:10 But the interesting thing about this is that he even tricked the people who were following
04:15 him psychologically and on the security issues.
04:19 And just one detail, which is very interesting, that when the killer of Samuel Paty, the teacher,
04:25 Anzorov, committed his act, it was known that the actual latest killer of Paris went to
04:30 the police from himself, telling them, "I was in contact with him, but I denounce what
04:35 he says and his act," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
04:39 And he was with someone from the penitentiary who was following him up.
04:42 And this follow-up and the psychological follow-up ended a few months back, meaning he waited,
04:48 he planned, and then he committed his act exactly as the Islamic State activists in
04:53 Vienna did three years ago.