Bataclan trial, the only surviving “libertine” bomber in the courtroom: from good student to anti-Western terrorist

PARIS. Living according to the values ​​of the West is equivalent to “living as a libertine”. Thus the terrorist Salah Abdelsam, the only survivor of the Bataclan attack, explains in the courtroom the reason for his decision to “give up the project of having a family and children” for a broader objective, “the project for which I am criticized today “.

Born and raised in Belgium, «imbued with Western values», Abdelsam in court tells of spending his days in his cell reading, but of having stopped playing chess because «it is forbidden by Islam». Finally, when asked about his definition of Western values, he specifies that it is a question of “living as a libertine, living without worrying about God, doing what you want, eat what you want, drink what you want”.

Before his radicalization in 2014, Salah Abdeslam went to a nightclub “from time to time to have fun” but did not dance. He describes himself as “a good student, loved by my teachers.” “I was not a good dancer – he still tells the judges – I played at the casino but not addicted to the game”. He says he was not a “cannabis user”. But to use it, “just as a hobby, a joint every now and then on weekends.”

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The horror relived in an audio
In the courtroom at the Court of Assizes in Paris today – as requested by a victims’ association – an audio of a few minutes was released, recorded in the midst of the massacre of 13 November 2015, in which 90 people died in a jihadist attack, including the Italian Valeria Solesin. “The first to get up I shoot,” is heard shouting. After five weeks devoted to the testimony of about 350 civil parties, this diffusion allows “to realize, in another way, the horror”, explained Arthur De’nouveaux, president of Life of Paris, who himself escaped the attack. The audio was obtained from a dictaphone which had remained on throughout the time and captured the dynamics of the attack.

We can clearly hear the voices of the bombers who claim the attack “for Syria and Iraq”, who bring up the then president Francois Hollande and the bombings carried out “by French and American soldiers”. “We are now bombing the earth, we don’t need planes, you hear.” And again: «The first to get up I shoot him a bullet in the head. It’s clear? I’ll kill anyone who tries to be an executioner, do you understand? ».

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Another monotonous voice, cold in the background: “You can’t help but blame your president Hollande.” On the benches the plaintiffs lower their heads, someone has gone away invited by the judge even before the recording began. Someone else takes his hands, someone leaves the room. Then the shots, the screams and the din of an explosion », that of the explosive belt of the Algerian terrorist Samy Amimour, which exploded immediately after a policeman had hit him on the stage of the theater.

The mother of an attacker is also on trial
Meanwhile, the mother of Foued Mohamed Aggad, one of the three suicide bombers, is being tried for “financing terrorism”, together with her son’s partner, who is also in prison “for terrorist association”.

Fatima Hajji, 53, is in court for paying money to her son and her son’s partner between 2014 and 2015, when they were in the area between Syria and Iraq. Foued Mohamed Aggad cut ties with his family at the end of August 2015, after announcing that he would “die as a martyr,” according to police reports. He would then return to France in the summer of 2015 to become one of three assailants who died in the attack that left 90 dead at the Bataclan.