Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to life imprisonment in France in late June for the 2015 Paris terror attacks, is being extradited to Belgium, the country where he was born. There, another trial awaits him related to the terrorist attack in Brussels in March 2016.
Abdeslam was taken from Fleury-Mérogis prison south of Paris on Wednesday morning and is due to be transferred to Belgium. According to AFP, the trial in Belgium is to begin in October.
The 32-year-old Moroccan Islamist is the only surviving initiator of the November 2015 Paris attacks, in which 130 people died. At the end of June, a Paris court sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. He did not appeal the verdict, therefore, it is final.
Mohamed Abrini, also associated with the Brussels bombings, which claimed 32 lives, was also given a life sentence. Unlike Abdeslam, Abrini may apply for early release after 22 years in prison.
In March 2016, the Belgian capital was shaken by a double suicide attack targeting the Zaventem Airport and the Maelbeek metro station. The so-called Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, similar to the one in Paris.
Abdeslam was arrested in March 2016 in Brussels, shortly before the terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital. The Belgian authorities then extradited him to France in April 2016.
