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.
The main suspect in a jihadist rampage that killed 130 people across Paris described himself on Wednesday as "an Islamic State soldier" at the start of the long-awaited trial into the 2015 attacks.
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: This is just the latest in a long list of fires and explosions to occur in recent months. Note that even though the list below is not exhaustive there have been multiple events even on the same day:
- Huge explosion & fire underneath tube station in London (28th June)
- Fire at martial arts centre in China kills 18, mostly children (25th June)
- Scottish Dark Sky Observatory destroyed in suspicious fire (24th June)
- Fire at medical marijuana lab in Italy kills 1, injures 3 (8th May)
- Massive fire breaks out at Ambernath chemical factory, India (8th May)
- Fire rips through flat in Canary Wharf tower block which reportedly has same cladding as deadly Grenfell fire (7th May)
- 82 dead in fire after 'oxygen tanks explode' at Covid hospital in Iraq (25th April)
- Fire kills 55,000 animals at one of Germany's biggest pig farms (1st April)
- Massive explosion hits Balongan oil refinery in Indonesia (29th March)
See also: SOTT Exclusive: The growing threat of underground fires and explosions