Arthur Denouveaux of the French association Life for Paris talks to journalists in front of the temporary courtroom set up during the start of the trial of the Paris' November 2015 attacks at the Paris courthouse on the Ile de la Cite, in Paris, France, September 8, 2021.
Salah Abdeslam, 31, appeared in court dressed in black and wearing a black face mask, one of 20 men accused of involvement in the gun-and-bomb attacks on six restaurants and bars, the Bataclan concert hall and a sports stadium on Nov. 13, 2015.
Asked what his profession was, the French-Moroccan removed his face mask - obligatory because of the COVID-19 pandemic - and told a Paris court defiantly: "I gave up my job to become an Islamic State soldier."
Abdeslam is believed to be the only surviving member of the group that carried out the attacks. The other suspects are accused of helping to provide guns and cars or playing a role in organising the attacks, in which hundreds were also injured.
Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Islamic State, which had urged followers to attack France over its involvement in the fight against the militant group in Iraq and Syria.
Asked by the court's top judge to give his name, Abdeslam used the Shahada, an Islamic oath, saying: "I want to testify that there is no god except Allah and that Mohammad is his servant."
Comment: It is a carrot and stick "motivational approach". The carrot is always in front of the donkey's face, but he can never reach it because it always moves forward with the donkey.
It all started with the two critical weeks to flatten the curve, and now almost two years later, we are suffering in a totalitarian nightmare.
Welcome to the bizarre Orwellian world.
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