Against all expectations, Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the commando, began his testimony at the trial of the November 13 attacks in Paris on Wednesday September 8. The survivor of the Paris and Saint-Denis commandos, who had remained silent and even refused to identify himself at his last trial in Belgium, broke his silence in a provocative manner. His first words were the declamation of the Shahada, the Islamic creed, reports broadcaster BFMTV. “I would first like to testify that there is no other deity than Allah and that Mohammed is his messenger,” he said, instead of introducing himself, before being confronted by the president of the court: “We will see about that. “To the traditional opening questions of a trial (identity, address, profession and name of parents), Salah Abdeslam again had an unexpected answer. “My father’s and mother’s names have no place here,” he said. When asked about his profession, he replied that he had resigned from it because he is now a “fighter for the Islamic State”. It now remains to be seen whether the accused will be as talkative in the further course of the trial, which is expected to last nine months.
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Antisemitism, Antizionism, Jihadism and the Reunited Germany. News by Fred Alan Medforth