Salah Abdeslam, who was convicted of carrying out Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, including the infamous attack on Paris’ Bataclan theater in 2015 that killed 130 people, is serving a life sentence in France. I will do it.
The Belgian Attorney General’s Office said on Wednesday that he was transferred from a Brussels prison to the Belgian-French border on Wednesday morning and received by French authorities.
French Justice Minister Eric Dupont Moretti announced via X that Mr. Abdeslam will serve his sentence in the Paris region.
Abdeslam was sentenced to life in prison in France in 2022 for his role in the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks, which included the attack on the Bataclan theater. Approximately 350 people were injured in the attack.
He was later extradited to Belgium to stand trial on murder charges in connection with the 2016 Islamist terrorist attacks that killed around 34 people and injured 340 others at Brussels airport and metro station. He was convicted and received an additional prison sentence.
Mr Abdeslam has tried several times in the past to prevent his return to French prisons. However, the court rejected his request to remain in a Belgian detention center. The judge said it was not sufficient to prove whether his human rights had been violated in France, as he claimed.
Nevertheless, Mr Abdeslam’s lawyer Delfin Paci criticized Wednesday’s decision as a serious violation of the rule of law principles.
Abdeslam is the only survivor of the Paris terror squad and is considered a key figure in the attacks. He was finally captured in Brussels after months on the run.
