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Paris Attacks 'Landlord' Sentenced to Four Years in Jail

2019-03-30

[AnNahar] A French man who rented his flat to the ringleader of the 2015 Gay Paree attacks during a massive police manhunt was sentenced to four years in prison Friday for "hiding terrorists." Jawad Bendaoud ...the nattily dressed and bespectacled acquirer of abandoned slum apartments that he was in the habit of renting out to black-souled scoundrels, unremarked by his gentle, niqab-clad neighbours... was convicted on appeal of hiding Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud and his accomplice Chakib Akrouh, who holed up after the November 13 attacks in Bendaoud's apartment in the Gay Paree suburb of Saint-Denis. Bendaoud was the first person to be tried in La Belle France over the synchronized shooting and suicide kabooms on the Bataclan concert hall, national stadium and several cafes in which a total of 130 people were killed. The attacks were the worst in La Belle France since World War II. Five days later, police tracked Abaaoud down to Bendaoud's flat and launched a dramatic raid, in which Abaaoud, Akrouh and a female cousin of Abaaoud's were killed. Bendaoud, a 31-year-old drug pusher, became a national laughing stock after declaring in an infamous TV interview that he had detected nothing suspicious about his lodgers. At his first trial, the court found insufficient evidence that he knew the men were part of the November attacks cell. Bendaoud presented himself as a cocaine-sniffing womanizer who was in the habit of renting out his flat to gangsters without asking questions. The prosecution appealed the verdict, which was overturned on Friday. Abaaoud's cousin Youssef Ait Boulahcen, a 26-year-old ambulance driver who was tried alongside him, was also sentenced to a four-year custodial sentence on Friday for "failing to report a terrorist crime." In a separate case earlier this week, Abaaoud was given a one-year sentence for issuing death threats against one of the survivors of the Gay Paree attacks.

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Europe

French court acquits man accused of hiding Paris attackers

2018-02-15

Ok, but they ought to be able to nail him for being a bloody-handed slum lord, which is almost worse. [Ynet] A French court acquitted a man charged with harboring Islamic holy warriors after they carried out the 2015 Gay Paree attacks, bringing a surprising end Wednesday to the first criminal trial from the country's deadliest holy warrior violence since World War II. The presiding judge said the Gay Paree court found Jawad Bendaoud, 31, a confirmed street criminal, not guilty of providing lodging to two of the attackers and helping them hide from police when they were the most-wanted criminals in La Belle France. Addressing Bendaoud at a verdict hearing, Judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez said the evidence was "insufficient to prove your guilt." Bendaoud, who was standing behind a glass-enclosed dock, blew kisses to the public and his lawyers upon hearing of his acquittal. He faced up to six years in prison if he was convicted of harboring terrorists. Bendaoud denied knowing the identity of the men to whom he rented a small flat in Saint-Denis. One of the two men he sheltered was Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Gay Paree attacks.

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Europe

Suspects Weep as Parents Testify at Paris Attacks Trial

2018-02-01

[AnNahar] Grieving parents testified Tuesday at the first trial stemming from the 2015 Gay Paree attacks, moving the two defendants to tears as they described losing their children to bombs and bullets. Among them were relatives of the 90 people massacred at the Bataclan concert hall in the attacks that also targeted the national stadium, bars and restaurants. Jawad Bendaoud and Mohammed Soumah, accused of harboring jihadists in the aftermath of the carnage that left 130 people dead, wept as a mother spoke of her pain. "Every time I talk about my son, the tears start flowing," said a woman named Iordanka, who like others testifying requested to be identified by only her first name. "My life is hard now," she said, describing how her 37-year-old son was shot seven times. And she said the two suspects -- along with a third defendant on trial for failing to report the jihadists -- deserved to be "punished severely." "It's not them who killed my son, but they more or less contributed to it," she said. - 'Street performance' - The court has been packed since the trial opened Wednesday, with La Belle France closely watching the proceedings as the only survivor among the 10 attackers, Salah Abdeslam, prepares to go on trial in Belgium on Monday. Bendaoud, a 31-year-old drug pusher, is accused of renting his apartment to senior Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud -- the suspected coordinator of the attacks -- and his accomplice Chakib Akrouh. Anti-terror police potted Abaaoud, Akrouh and Abaaoud's cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen in a ferocious assault on Bendaoud's flat in Saint-Denis north of Gay Paree on November 18, five days after the attacks. Bendaoud became a national laughing stock after a now-notorious television interview outside the apartment in which he insisted, "I didn't know they were terrorists." His apparent lack of curiosity about the men, at a time when the country was on lockdown in the hunt for runaway jihadists, spawned endless jokes and internet memes. He again told the court Monday that he did not know the men's identity, and that he would not have hosted turbans "even for 150,000 euros" ($190,000). Bendaoud, who has a long criminal record, said he had previously rented the grubby flat to Eastern European gangsters without asking questions. Parents expressed anger over Bendaoud's behavior during the trial, which has in recent days seemed more like a sketch show due to his theatrical antics. On Friday he complained that most men forced to stay in their cell for as long as him would "cut off their testicles", and accused one of the lawyers of being "psychologically unhinged." "What shocks me is the lack of seriousness with which Mr Bendaoud and Mr Soumah are taking this trial," said a man called Abdallah, who lost both of his sisters. "Behind those who are on trial today there are families that have been obliterated." A father called Patrick said Bendaoud was making a mockery of the trial, transforming it into a "street performance." "I was outraged to hear laughter during these debates," he said. "I'm not laughing. I'm not here to see a show." Co-defendant Soumah apologized to the victims last week, but Bendaoud has yet to follow suit.

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Europe

'Daesh Landlord' in the Dock in First Paris Attacks Trial

2018-01-25

Not merely a landlord, but apparently a horrid slumlord whose properties ought to have been condemned. [AnNahar] The first trial stemming from the November 2015 Gay Paree terror attacks opens Wednesday when Jawad Bendaoud appears in court, charged with harboring two of the jihadists in the aftermath of the carnage. Bendaoud, 31, became a national laughing stock after a television interview in which he came across as clueless, insisting "I didn't know they were terrorists." It provided a rare reason to laugh after the deadliest attacks in La Belle France since World War II, spawning endless parodies on the internet mocking his apparent naivety. Bendaoud stands accused of lending his apartment to Abdelhamid Abaaoud -- a senior Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist suspected of coordinating the attacks that killed 130 people -- and his accomplice Chakib Akrouh. The court will seek to determine whether Bendaoud actively conspired in helping the pair to hide out or whether he got caught up in events unknowingly. Anti-terror police potted Abaaoud, Akrouh, and Abaaoud's cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen in a ferocious assault on the apartment on November 18, five days after the attacks. Bendaoud gave his now infamous interview to BFM television just as armed officers were surrounding the apartment in the gritty Saint-Denis suburb north of Gay Paree. "Someone asked me for a favour, I helped them out," he said, adding that all he knew was that they were from Belgium and wanted access to water and a place to pray. "I was asked to give accommodation to two people for three days and I did the favor," said the bespectacled Bendaoud, wearing a leather jacket with his hair gelled back. "If I'd known, do you really think I would have hosted them?" The clip became a viral sensation, with internet users mocking his apparent lack of curiosity about his guests, at a time when a huge manhunt had been launched for jihadists. The press nicknamed Bendaoud the "ISIS landlord" after another name for IS, and his own lawyer Xavier Nogueras described him as "the one we laughed about, having cried so much." - How much did he know? - The case will turn on what Bendaoud, a Saint-Denis native with a long criminal record, knew about the men. He was previously sentenced to eight years in jail for killing a man in a fight over a mobile phone, and was released in 2013. Bendaoud will go on trial alongside his friend Mohammed Soumah as well as Youssef Aitboulahcen, the brother of the woman killed in the raid on the apartment. Ten heavily armed jihadists attacked the national stadium, bars and restaurants in Gay Paree as well as the Bataclan concert venue on the night of November 13 in attacks claimed by IS. Before they were killed in the raid on the apartment, Abaaoud and Akrouh were suspected of preparing a suicide kaboom on the French capital's La Defense business district. Only one of the Gay Paree button men survived. Salah Abdeslam was tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! in Belgium four months after the attacks and transferred to La Belle France, where he has refused to cooperate with Sherlocks. He is to go on trial in Belgium on February 5 over a shootout with police that left several officers maimed but led to his capture. Around 15 people are in jug or being sought by police as part of the sprawling French probe into the Gay Paree attacks which has taken Sherlocks to Belgium, Morocco and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....

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Europe

Bonjour Tristesse

2015-12-08

[NewEnglishReview] I-tele aired an excerpt from an interview with the sister and brother of one of the Bataclan killers. They are horrified, simply horrified by what he did. He's not our brother, he's a monster, they sob. They repeat their horror, their sorrow, their distress, their stupefaction. And to think it was happening a few blocks away from the thÊâtre de la Main d'Or where they were watching DieudonnÊ perform. The interviewer is a bit stupefied himself. "You went to see DieudonnÊ's show? He's very controversial. Are you anti-Semitic?" And they reply, hidden behind the thickest biggest most checkerboard face blur I've ever seen, "No, we were just having fun, it's a comedy show." I suppose most readers will have seen footage of the bespectacled guy who lent the apartment in St. Denis where Abaaoud made his last stand. Interviewed by BFM TV during the standoff, he could barely contain his arrogance and contempt for the journalist who dared to ask him how he came to give refuge to the notorious terrorist. "A copain asked me lend the place to some of his potes for a few days. I said ok. I helped him out, monsieur, that's all, a helping hand." Of course he didn't know they came from Belgium, he didn't know they were terrorists. And perhaps he didn't see the policemen standing nearby that gently took him by the arm and led him to the paddy wagon. He's still in custody. According to an article in LibÊration the snooty chap subsequently identified as Jawad Bendaoud, is the goon of slum landlords that were renting apartments in the building, officially declared unfit for habitation. Bendaoud reportedly was sentenced to an 8-year term in 2008 for manslaughter. The victim was a friend. So I guess this wasn't the first time he helped out a copain. The downstairs neighbor of the hideout also told her story to TV cameras. The building was shaking, plaster was raining down from the ceiling. She didn't need to be blurred. She was in niqab. A cute young flirty looking friend of Bendaoud gives a different version. She says the apartment was abandoned. Her copain just broke in and expropriated it. He lent it to people who needed a place to crash. Is that so? Then how does she explain the fact that the armored door was so strong it resisted the explosive charge used by the SWAT team to break in and surprise the occupants?

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Europe

Round-up: Jihad encounters in Britain and Europe

2015-12-03

UK police arrest 4 men under Terrorism Act [Ynet] British police have jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! four men in their 30s on suspicion of committing offenses under the Terrorism Act. Police said the men were arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. Police say searches are being conducted at seven separate addresses in Luton, 30 miles (50 kms) north of London, where the men were arrested. Vehicles are also being searched. Police say the arrests are not related to the recent Islamic State group attacks on Paris. New arrest in Paris attacks linked to apartment raid [Ynet] French police have tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! two people outside Gay Paree -- one of them for suspected links to the only man charged in connection with the Nov. 13 attacks in the capital, according to two officials close to the investigation. The first arrest on Tuesday was of a 25-year-old man suspected of being an intermediary to Jawad Bendaoud, who already has been handed preliminary charges for providing housing to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected planner of the Gay Paree attacks that killed 130 people. The intermediary, whose name wasn't disclosed, was arrested in his home in Malakoff, south of Gay Paree by counterterrorism police, officials said. A few hours later, police went with the suspect to search another apartment in Saint-Denis, a northern Gay Paree suburb, and jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a woman who was there. Belgium Police Detain Two over Paris Attacks Whether they'll be arrested is a different question -- most of those picked up aren't. [AnNahar] Belgian police on Wednesday held two people for questioning in connection with the Gay Paree attacks, after carrying out a series of searches in their hunt for key suspects with links to the November 13 massacre. "This morning five premises were searched in the Brussels region, concerning the ongoing federal investigation into the runaway Mohammed Abrini and into Ahmed Dahmani who is currently detained in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ," the federal prosecutor said in a statement. Belgium last week issued an international arrest warrant for Abrini, 30, who was filmed along with top suspect Salah Abdeslam at a petrol station on a motorway near Gay Paree in a car that was later used in the attacks. Dahmani, a Belgian citizen of Moroccan origin, reportedly scouted out targets for the Gay Paree attacks and was tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... as he was allegedly trying to make his way to Syria. The searches took place in several Brussels neighbourhoods, including the troubled Molenbeek district where several of the Gay Paree attackers resided, including suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was killed in a raid by French police. CNN on Monday said Salah Abdeslam, who is Belgian, had managed to slip out of Europe and into Syria since the atrocity, though Sherlocks believe he may still be in Europe. Belgian Sherlocks said on Tuesday they are working on the assumption that Abdeslam is still in Belgium, where he is believed to have fled to hours after the Gay Paree attacks.

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