They are, for the most part, unknown to the general public. For seven months, fourteen men aged 27 to 40 will appear before the special assize court in Paris alongside the most closely watched detainee in France, Salah Abdeslam. A total of twenty people are to be tried in this sprawling case, but six of them will be judged by default.
Of French, Belgian, Algerian, Swedish or Pakistani nationality, the fourteen defendants present at the hearing are being prosecuted for their involvement – to varying degrees – in the preparation and commission of the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Saint-Denis, on the Parisian terraces and Bataclan. Who are they and what are the charges against them? 20 minutes make the point.
Salah Abdeslam
Born September 15, 1989 in Brussels, the Franco-Moroccan Salah Abdeslam, 31, is the only member of the November 13 commandos still alive. Childhood friend of the Belgian coordinator Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who died in the assault on Saint-Denis a few days after the Bataclan, Salah Abdeslam first participated, in the fall of 2015, in the repatriation to Belgium of several Daesh terrorists who arrived from Syria to strike Europe. His older brother, Brahim Abdeslam, was a member of the terraces team. He died the night of the attacks by blowing himself up at the Comptoir Voltaire, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Salah Abdeslam, he abandoned his explosives belt the night of the attacks for reasons that remain unknown before returning to Belgium during the night.
His last public appearance dates back to February 2018. Judged in Brussels for his participation in a shooting against the police, a few days before his arrest in March 2016, Salah Abdeslam had asserted his right to silence. Medium-length hair and full beard, he had declared: “My silence does not make me a culprit or a criminal. Judge me! Do what you want. It is in my Lord that I place my trust. “
Faced with the examining magistrates, Salah Abdeslam systematically locked himself in silence. Already sentenced to twenty years in prison for the Forest shooting case, he will be tried again in Belgium – probably at the end of 2022 – for the double attack which killed 32 people in March 2016 at the airport and in a metro from Brussels.
Mohamed Abrini
Born on December 27, 1984, this 36-year-old Belgian-Moroccan is tried for having accompanied the November 13 commandos in the Paris region and participated in the financing and supply of the weapons used by the terrorists. Childhood friend of the Abdeslam brothers, he was arrested in Brussels in April 2016. He has been detained in Belgium since that date but will be transferred to France for the trial. Like his friend Salah Abdeslam, he must be tried in Belgium for the double suicide bombing of March 2016 in Brussels. CCTV footage of Zaventem airport with two of the suicide bombers who blew themselves up there earned him the nickname “the man in the hat”.
Mohammed amri
Born on August 7, 1988, Mohammed Amri, 32, a Belgian-Moroccan close to the Abdeslam brothers, admitted having gone to pick up Salah Abdeslam by car on the evening of the attacks to bring him back to Belgium, knowing that he was involved in the attacks. . A regular customer of casinos and twice convicted of thefts in Belgium, Mohammed Amri is also suspected of having assisted in the rental of vehicles used to transport members of the commandos from Syria in the fall of 2015.
In their order of indictment, the examining magistrates indicate: “Mohammed Amri, while declaring himself in total disagreement with these crimes, admitted having brought Salah Abdeslam back to Belgium. He justified it by saying that he had felt trapped. He added, in a very little credible manner, that he had not realized the scale and the gravity of the attacks at the time. Arrested in Belgium on November 14, he was extradited to France in July 2016 where he has been imprisoned since that date.
Hamza Attou
Like Mohammed Amri, Hamza Attou was arrested in Belgium the day after the Paris attacks. Born on May 4, 1994, this 27-year-old Belgian-Moroccan also admitted having gone to look for Salah Abdeslam in Paris on the night of the attacks. Close to Brahim Abdeslam, Hamza Attou is the youngest of the fourteen accused. Handed over to France in June 2016, he was imprisoned before being released under judicial supervision in May 2018.
Yassine Atar
34-year-old Belgian-Moroccan Yassine Atar is the younger brother of Osama Atar, one of the Daesh executives at the head of the external operations cell (Copex) of the terrorist organization. Born on July 11, 1986, Yassine Atar is suspected of having held a key to the Brussels hideout where Salah Abdeslam took refuge after the attacks. It is also in this hideout that the explosive belts used in Paris were manufactured. Arrested in Brussels in March 2016, he was extradited in June 2018 to France, where he is imprisoned.
Sofien ayari
Tunisian born August 9, 1993, Sofien Ayari, 28, was Salah Abdeslam’s companion in Belgium. Having joined Daesh in Syria at the end of 2014, he returned to Europe in 2015 accompanied by Osama Krayem, also accused in this trial. Arrested in Brussels at the same time as Salah Abdeslam in March 2016, he has already been sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in Belgium for having shot a police officer. His DNA was found in several hideouts that were used in the preparation of the November 13 attacks. Investigators suspect him of having wanted to commit or prepare, with Osama Krayen, an attack at Amsterdam-Schiphol airport in parallel with the Parisian attacks.
Osama Krayem
Of Swedish nationality, Osama Krayem, 28, born August 16, 1992, joined Syria in 2014 and then returned to Europe by the migrant route. Like Sofien Ayari, he was Salah Abdeslam’s companion in Brussels after the November 13 attacks. According to investigators, Osama Krayem would have participated in the manufacture of the explosives. Detained in Belgium since April 2016, he was identified as one of the executioners of the Jordanian pilot murdered by Daesh in early 2015 in Syria. He was involved in the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Brussels. He will be transferred to France during the trial.
Mohamed bakkali
Considered to be one of the logisticians of the commando, Mohamed Bakkali is accused of having rented cars for the attacks. Detained in France since 2018, this Belgian-Moroccan born April 10, 1987 is also being prosecuted for the rental, under a false identity, of hideouts for the jihadist cell in Brussels. In December 2020, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison during the Thalys attack trial. He was being prosecuted for having driven Abdelhamid Abaaoud and the perpetrator of the attack, Ayoub El-Khazzani to Brussels at the beginning of August 2015. He has since appealed against this decision.
Abdellah Chouaa
He is the last man indicted in the investigation and the oldest of the accused. This 40-year-old Belgian-Moroccan, born March 30, 1981, is suspected of having provided logistical support to the cell that prepared the attacks. Son of an imam from the Brussels district of Molenbeek, he was left free under judicial supervision.
Ali El Haddad Asufi
Detained since June 2019, this Belgian-Moroccan, 36 years old, born September 23, 1984 was in recurring contact with members of the Franco-Belgian jihadist cell. He allegedly participated in the supply of weapons.
Adel Haddadi and Muhammad Usman
Adel Haddadi, 33, an Algerian born July 17, 1987, and Muhammad Usman, 28, a Pakistani born May 15, 1993, were arrested in December 2015, a month after the attacks, in a migrant home in Austria. The two men left Syria and joined Europe by the migrant route with two suicide bombers from the Stade de France. They are suspected of having wanted to commit an attack in France. Muhammad Usman is a former pyrotechnician of Pakistani jihadist groups known to be close to Al-Qaeda.
Farid Kharkhach
Another 38-year-old Belgian-Moroccan, Farid Kharkhach is accused of having provided false papers to the cell at the request of Khalid El Bakraoui, one of the perpetrators of the Brussels attacks. He was arrested in January 2017.
Ali Ulkadi
Close to Brahim Abdeslam, this 36-year-old Frenchman, born July 9, 1984, is suspected of having helped Salah Abdeslam go into hiding when he arrived in Brussels on November 14, but has always denied having been aware of the terrorist project of the cell. Arrested in Belgium on November 22, 2015, he was handed over to France in April 2016 and placed under judicial supervision.