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France seeks 'rapid' handover of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam appears before Belgian judge
(about 2 hours later)
The main suspect in the Paris terrorist attacks has been released from hospital in Belgium and is being questioned by police as the French authorities launched a fast-track appeal to have him extradited. Europe’s most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam, has been released from hospital and taken under heavy guard to appear before a Belgian judge.
Salah Abdeslam has been Europe’s most wanted man since 13 November after a series of shootings and suicide bombings in the French capital that left 130 dead. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. The main suspect in the Paris terrorist attacks is reported to have confirmed his identity to anti-terrorist police questioning him, but it is not known whether he has given any more information or whether he will contest his extradition to France.
Abdeslam was shot in the leg in a police assault before being captured on Friday. A four-month international manhunt came to an end on Friday when heavily armed Belgian police tracked Abdeslam to an apartment in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, 500 metres from where he grew up.
On Saturday morning, the French president, François Hollande, called an emergency defence council meeting of ministers at the Elysée Palace. As the suspect fled with a man believed to be an accomplice, he was shot in the leg.
Afterwards, the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the arrest was “an important blow against the terrorist organisation Daesh [Islamic State] in Europe”. On Saturday, as he appeared before a judge, details emerged of how police finally caught the Belgian, thought to be the only surviving member of a 10-strong cell linked to Islamic State (Isis) that carried out a series of shootings and suicide bombings in the French capital that left 130 dead on 13 November last year.
Belgian police raided a flat in another Brussels suburb, Forest, on Tuesday, in which a suspected accomplice, Mohamed Belkaid was killed by a special forces sniper. A black Idid flag and Kalashnikov was found near his body.
Two men fled the flat, reportedly escaping on to the roof but inside, forensic experts found Abdeslam’s fingerprint on a glass.
Shortly afterwards, the desperate fugitive called a friend saying he needed somewhere to stay. The friend alerted the police, who put an immediate trace on the mobile telephone number Abdeslam had given. From then, it was only a matter of time.
Police traced the mobile and tracked the suspect to an apartment in Molenbeek, where he was staying with another friend and three members of the friend’s family, who were also arrested on Friday. The four others also appeared before a judge on Saturday.
On Saturday, after French president, François Hollande, called an emergency defence council meeting of ministers at the Elysée Palace, the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the arrest was “an important blow against the terrorist organisation Daesh [Islamic State] in Europe”.
“This operation has removed the threat of several individuals who have proven themselves extremely dangerous and totally determined,” Cazeneuve said.“This operation has removed the threat of several individuals who have proven themselves extremely dangerous and totally determined,” Cazeneuve said.
Hollande said that the French authorities would seek a “rapid” extradition of Abdeslam.Hollande said that the French authorities would seek a “rapid” extradition of Abdeslam.
“I am sure the French legal authorities will very quickly issue an extradition request ... and the Belgian authorities will respond as favourably as possible, as quickly as possible,” Hollande said.“I am sure the French legal authorities will very quickly issue an extradition request ... and the Belgian authorities will respond as favourably as possible, as quickly as possible,” Hollande said.
He said Saturday’s meeting would “look at where we are with the operations carried out in the fight against the terrorist networks in France and Europe”.
Hollande has said he would meet representatives of the victims’ families on Monday.Hollande has said he would meet representatives of the victims’ families on Monday.
Abdeslam, 26, a former bus driver, has been on the run for four months. He is known to have telephoned two accomplices in Belgium in the hours after the attacks. The two men drove from Brussels, picked him up, and drove back to the Belgian capital, where he disappeared. The vehicle Abdeslam was travelling was reportedly stopped by police twice on the route, but allowed to continue. Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, told a news conference Abdeslam’s extradition to France could take “several weeks”.
He is believed to the only surviving member of a 10-strong Isis “commando” unit that carried out the attacks attacks. While French ministers were quick to praise the work of Belgian police, a war of words between the two countries broke out on Saturday.
On Saturday, Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said police would have 24 hours – that could be prolonged to 48 hours – before Abdeslam would have to appear before a judge to decide whether he remained in prison for up to a month. Alain Marsaud, a member of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre right Les Républicains, and a former anti-terrorist judge accused the Belgian authorities of naivety.
“If he starts talking, then I presume it will mean he stays longer in Belgium,” Van Der Sypt said. “Sooner or later he will be extradited to France.” “Their naivety cost us 130 lives,” he said.
“I am disgusted by the inability of the Belgians to solve the problem [of radicalisation] over the last few months, last few years,” he told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
“I can’t help be astonished. How did it take four months to arrest one of the organisers of the attacks, when it turns out he remained within a very small area of Brussels? Perhaps I’m wrong and things were more complicated ... but we have to question the ability of the Belgian intelligence and intervention services.”
Marsaud added he expected Belgium to “extradite Salah Abdeslam as quickly as possible”.
“This long period he was on the run is not a great success for the Belgian intelligence services; either Salah Abdeslam is very clever or the Belgian services are rubbish, which seems more likely.”
In response, Belgium’s foreign minister, Didier Reynders, said: “We have to be realistic ... it is deplorable to be always looking for scapegoats.”
PM Michel said Abdeslam’s capture had not come about by chance, but was “the fruit of enormous work” that had mobilised between 300 and 400 investigators. “The fight against the terrorist threat will continue,” he said.
Investigators believe Abdeslam, 26, a former tram driver, was supposed to have blown himself up after the Paris attacks after driving suicide bombers to the Stade do France football stadium where the first of several coordinated attacks was due to happen.
A suicide vest was later found in a dustbin in a district in north Paris not far from an abandoned VW Golf, linked to the terror cell. The theory was given further weight by an Isis statement claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks that mentioned a bombing in the French capital’s 18th arrondissment. There was no such bombing.
Abdeslam is known to have telephoned two accomplices in Belgium in the hours after the attacks on 13 November. The two men drove from Brussels, picked him up, and drove back to the Belgian capital, where he disappeared. The vehicle Abdeslam was travelling was reportedly stopped by French police twice on the route, but allowed to continue.
On Saturday, Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said: “If he starts talking, then I presume it will mean he stays longer in Belgium,” adding: “Sooner or later he will be extradited to France.”
French and Belgian anti-terrorism officials plan a conference call on Saturday during which Abdeslam’s extradition is expected to be discussed and agreed, Thierry Werts, spokesperson for Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said.French and Belgian anti-terrorism officials plan a conference call on Saturday during which Abdeslam’s extradition is expected to be discussed and agreed, Thierry Werts, spokesperson for Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said.
A 2002 European Union agreement accelerated the extradition process between members states, removing political consideration. For particularly serious crimes, including alleged terrorism, the process can be fast-tracked. A 2002 European Union agreement accelerated the extradition process between members states. Under the old system, the request had to be made at state level, now a judicial request is made. For particularly serious crimes, including alleged terrorism, the process can be fast-tracked.
Anti-terrorist police will be hoping Abdeslam can shed light on a previously unknown Algerian gunman linked to the Paris attacks. Mohamed Belkaid was shot on Tuesday in the Belgian police raid that led officers to Abdeslam.Anti-terrorist police will be hoping Abdeslam can shed light on a previously unknown Algerian gunman linked to the Paris attacks. Mohamed Belkaid was shot on Tuesday in the Belgian police raid that led officers to Abdeslam.
In exclusive documents given to the Associated Press by the Syrian opposition news site Zama al-Wsl, Belkaid described how he traveled throughout Europe and had no experience as a jihadi as he crossed into Syria on 19 April 2014.In exclusive documents given to the Associated Press by the Syrian opposition news site Zama al-Wsl, Belkaid described how he traveled throughout Europe and had no experience as a jihadi as he crossed into Syria on 19 April 2014.
On Friday, officials said Balkaid was “most probably” an Abdeslam accomplice whose fake Belgian ID was used to pay for the hideout of the Paris attack ringleader.On Friday, officials said Balkaid was “most probably” an Abdeslam accomplice whose fake Belgian ID was used to pay for the hideout of the Paris attack ringleader.