PARIS: The lawyer for the only surviving attacker from the November 2015 terrorist massacre in Paris criticized her client's murder conviction and life prison sentence without the possibility of parole, saying Thursday the verdict “raises serious questions.”
Olivia Ronen did not say if Salah Abdeslam would appeal the verdict and sentence. He has 10 days in which to do so.
Abdeslam was found guilty Wednesday of murder and attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise, among other charges, over his involvement in the Daesh attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and France’s national stadium that killed 130 people.
Ronen argued throughout the marathon trial of Abdeslam and 19 other men that her client had not detonated his explosives-packed vest and hadn’t killed anyone the night of the deadliest peacetime attacks in French history.
Nevertheless, Abdeslam, a 32-year-old Belgian, was given the most severe sentence possible in France for murder and that “raises serious questions," Ronen said in an interview with public radio station France Inter.
During his trial testimony, Abdeslam told a special terrorist court in Paris that he was a last-minute addition to the nine-member attacking squad that spread out across the French capital on Nov. 13, 2015, to launch the coordinated attacks at multiple sites.
Abdeslam said he walked into a bar with explosives strapped to his body but changed his mind and disabled the detonator. He said he could not kill people “singing and dancing.”
The court found, however, that Abdeslam's explosives vest malfunctioned, dismissing his claim that he decided not to follow through with his part of the attack because of a change of heart.
The other eight attackers, including Abdeslam's brother, either blew themselves up or were killed by police. Abdeslam drove three of them to the locations of the attacks that night.
The worst carnage was in the Bataclan. Three gunmen burst into the venue, firing indiscriminately. Ninety people died within minutes. Hundreds were held hostage — some gravely injured — for hours before then-President Francois Hollande ordered the theater stormed.
Abdeslam was nowhere near the Bataclan at any time that night, defense lawyer Ronen said, suggesting he therefore did not deserve France’s most severe murder sentence possible.
“We have condemned a person we know was not at the Bataclan as if he was there,” Ronen said. “That raises serious questions.”
The chief prosecutor at the special terrorism court Jean-Francois Ricard said the trial of the 20 extremists, the court's verdicts and sentences, including the harshest one for Abdeslam, were a “triumph for the rule of law” in France.
“Abdeslam dropped off three human bombs and killed by proxy,” Ricard said on Thursday in an interview with another public broadcaster, France Info. “His punishment is just.”
The sentence of life without parole had only previously been given four times in France, for crimes related to rape and murder of minors.
The special terrorism court also convicted 19 other men involved in the attacks. Eighteen were given various terrorism-related convictions, and one was convicted on a lesser fraud charge. Some were given life sentences; others walked free after being sentenced to time served.
Abdeslam apologized to the victims at his final court appearance Monday, saying that listening to their accounts of “so much suffering” changed him.
Georges Salines, who lost his daughter Lola in the Bataclan, felt Abdeslam’s remorse was insincere. “I don’t think it’s possible to forgive him,” he said.
But for Salines, life without parole is going too far.
“I don’t like the idea of in advance deciding that there is no hope,” he said. “I think it is important to keep hope for any man.”
Lawyer for Paris attacker questions life term with no parole, hints at retrial
https://arab.news/97dmw
Lawyer for Paris attacker questions life term with no parole, hints at retrial
- Daesh attacks on Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and France’s national stadium killed 130 people
- Abdeslam was found guilty Wednesday of murder and attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise
Geoeconomic confrontation tops global risks in 2026: WEF report
- Also armed conflict, extreme climate, public polarization, AI
- None ‘a foregone conclusion,’ says WEF’s MD Saadia Zahidi
DUBAI: Geoeconomic confrontation has emerged as the top global risk this year, followed by state-based armed conflict, according to a new World Economic Forum report.
The Global Risks Report 2026, released on Wednesday, found that both risks climbed eight places year-on-year, underscoring a sharp deterioration in the global outlook amid increased international competition.
The top five risks are geoeconomic confrontation (18 percent of respondents), state-based armed conflict (14 percent), extreme weather events (8 percent), societal polarization (7 percent) and misinformation and disinformation (7 percent).
The WEF’s Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said the report “offers an early warning system as the age of competition compounds global risks — from geoeconomic confrontation to unchecked technology to rising debt — and changes our collective capacity to address them.
“But none of these risks are a foregone conclusion.”
The report assesses risks across three timeframes: immediate (2026); short-to-medium term (next two years); and long term (next 10 years).
Economic risks show the largest overall increase in the two-year outlook, with both economic downturn and inflation jumping eight positions.
Misinformation and disinformation rank fifth this year but rise to second place in the two-year outlook and fourth over the 10-year horizon.
The report suggests this reflects growing anxiety around the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, with adverse outcomes linked to AI surging from 30th place in the two-year timeframe to fifth in the 10-year outlook.
Uncertainty dominates the global risk outlook, according to the report.
Surveyed leaders and experts view both the short- and long-term outlook negatively, with 50 percent expecting a turbulent or stormy global environment over the next two years, rising to 57 percent over the next decade.
A further 40 percent and 32 percent, respectively, describe the outlook as unsettled across the two- and 10-year timeframes, while just 1 percent anticipate a calm global outlook in either period.
Environmental risks ease slightly in the short-term rankings. Extreme weather fell from second to fourth place and pollution from sixth to ninth. Meanwhile, critical changes to Earth systems and biodiversity loss dropped seven and five positions, respectively.
However, over the next decade, environmental threats re-emerge as the most severe, with extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and critical changes to Earth systems topping the global risk rankings.
Looking ahead over the next decade, around 75 percent of respondents anticipate a turbulent or stormy environmental outlook, making it the most pessimistic assessment across all risk categories.
Zahidi said that “the challenges highlighted in the report underscore both the scale of the potential perils we face and our shared responsibility to shape what comes next.”
Despite the gloomy outlook, Zahidi signaled a positive shift in global cooperation.
“It is also clear that new forms of global cooperation are already unfolding even amid competition, and the global economy is demonstrating resilience in the face of uncertainty.”
Now in its 21st year, the Global Risks Report highlights a core message: global risks cannot be managed without cooperation.
As competition intensifies, rebuilding trust and new forms of collaboration will be critical, with the report stressing that today’s decisions will shape future outcomes.
The report was released ahead of WEF’s annual meeting, which will be held in Davos from Jan. 19 to 23.
