Salah Abdeslam | Today's AI Wiki

1. Life

Salah Abdeslam's life was marked by a progression from a seemingly ordinary background through petty crime to radicalization and involvement in devastating terrorist acts.

1.1. Early life and background

Abdeslam was born on 15 September 1989, in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, Belgium. His parents, of Moroccan origin, had acquired French nationality after residing in Algeria. Consequently, Abdeslam and his three older brothers, along with a younger sister, were all born with French nationality. One of his brothers, Brahim Abdeslam, also participated in the 2015 Paris attacks, engaging in shootings at café terraces before detonating his suicide vest.

1.2. Education and early career

Abdeslam attended the Athénée Royal Serge Creuz secondary school in Molenbeek. After obtaining a technical qualification, he secured employment in 2009 as a mechanic with the Brussels public transport company, STIB-MIVB, where his father also worked. However, his career at STIB-MIVB was cut short. In December 2011, Abdeslam, along with his childhood friend Abdelhamid Abaaoud and two others, was arrested for an attempted robbery at a garage in Ottignies, south of Brussels. He received a suspended sentence for this offense, but the months spent in prison on remand led to the loss of his job. Following this, he alternated between temporary work and periods of unemployment.

1.3. Criminal involvement and radicalization

From 2013, Abdeslam became involved in running his brother Brahim's Molenbeek café-bar, Café Les Béguines. This establishment became a hub for drug dealing and was also used for watching Islamic State videos. Despite his later claims of religious conviction, Abdeslam was known to drink alcohol, use cannabis, and frequent nightclubs and casinos during this period. He accumulated two more convictions: one for theft and another for possession of cannabis. The café-bar was eventually closed nine days before the 13 November 2015 attacks, following a police raid in August 2015 that uncovered evidence of drug dealing. The brothers had sold the lease by then.

Both Salah and Brahim lived at home with their parents and another brother, Mohammed. Mohammed noted a significant change in his brothers in the months leading up to the Paris attacks, observing that they had given up alcohol and begun to pray. Following a police raid on terrorists in Verviers in January 2015, the names of Salah and Brahim Abdeslam were provided to the police by an informant. Although the brothers were questioned, the investigation was not pursued due to a reported lack of resources within the federal police's anti-terror unit. Furthermore, on 26 October 2015, the Belgian intelligence services provided a list of suspected radicalized individuals, including the Abdeslam brothers, to the mayor of Molenbeek. The mayor stated that she did not use the list to track potential terrorists, asserting that it was the responsibility of the federal police.

2. Preparations for the attacks

The preparations for the 2015 Paris attacks involved extensive logistical arrangements and travel by Salah Abdeslam. In early August 2015, Abdeslam made a brief trip to Greece with Ahmed Dahmani, who was later arrested in Turkey in November 2015.

Between 30 August and 3 October 2015, Abdeslam undertook five journeys to Hungary and Germany. His purpose was to collect terrorists who were returning from Syria via the migrant route, using false passports. All these individuals would later be involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. The vehicles used for these journeys were rented with cash supplied by the Islamic State. In October 2015, Abdeslam purchased twelve remote detonators and several batteries from a fireworks shop in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, a northwestern suburb of Paris. He also acquired 15 L of peroxide, intended for the fabrication of explosives.

Abdeslam rented two of the three cars utilized in the Paris attacks: a Volkswagen Polo and a Renault Clio. His brother, Brahim, rented the third vehicle, a SEAT León. On the evening of 11 November 2015, Abdeslam and his childhood friend Mohamed Abrini drove the Clio to Alfortville, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris. There, they booked two rooms for the Paris attackers at an Apart'City hotel, and their movements were captured by a surveillance camera at a service station en route. Brahim Abdeslam had already rented a house in Bobigny, a northeastern suburb of Paris, located near the Stade de France.

In the early hours of 12 November, Abdeslam drove to a hideout in Charleroi to rendezvous with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Abrini, and other members of the terrorist cell. That afternoon, they departed for Paris in the Clio and the SEAT León, joining another group in the Polo that was leaving from a hideout in the Jette district of Brussels. Upon reaching Paris, the Clio and SEAT León proceeded to the Bobigny house, while the Bataclan attackers in the Polo spent the night at the Alfortville hotel. During the night, Abrini returned to Brussels by taxi, leaving ten individuals to carry out the planned attacks.

3. Role in the Paris attacks

On the evening of 13 November 2015, Salah Abdeslam played a direct role in the initial phase of the coordinated Paris attacks. He drove the three Stade de France bombers to the football stadium located just north of Paris, in the commune of Saint-Denis. The detonation of the first bomb at 21:16 marked the beginning of a night of terror that would ultimately claim 130 lives and injure hundreds more. The three bombs detonated at the Stade de France resulted in one fatality.

Following this, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Chakib Akrouh, and Brahim Abdeslam drove through the 10th and 11th arrondissements of Paris, stopping at three different locations to open fire on people seated at café and restaurant terraces, killing 39 individuals. Brahim Abdeslam then detonated a suicide vest in a café in the 11th arrondissement. A third group of terrorists launched an assault on the Bataclan theatre, where the Eagles of Death Metal were performing for an audience of approximately 1,500. Ninety people were killed by gunfire inside the theatre. The final death toll for the attacks was 130. The three Stade de France bombers, Brahim Abdeslam, and the three Bataclan attackers died on 13 November 2015. Abaaoud and Akrouh were killed during a police raid on their hideout in Saint-Denis on 18 November 2015, making Salah Abdeslam the sole survivor of the direct perpetrators of the attacks.

Abdeslam himself was wearing a suicide vest on the night of 13 November. During his trial in Paris, he claimed that he had entered a bar in the 18th arrondissement with the intention of detonating his suicide vest but had changed his mind at the last minute "out of humanity, not fear." However, the court did not accept this explanation, concluding instead that the suicide vest was faulty. On 14 November 2015, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, including an alleged attack in the 18th arrondissement that had not actually occurred.

At approximately 22:00, Abdeslam parked his car in the Place Albert Kahn in the 18th arrondissement, leaving a kitchen knife inside. Half an hour later, he activated a phone with a SIM card he had purchased nearby, which allowed investigators to trace his movements for the remainder of the night. He then took the metro or a taxi to Châtillon, in the southwest of Paris, where he abandoned his suicide vest among some rubbish and purchased a McDonald's takeaway. He subsequently spent a couple of hours with two youths in the stairwell of a block of flats. During the night, he contacted two friends from Molenbeek, Mohamed Amri and Hamza Attou, asking them to pick him up and drive him back to Brussels.

Amri and Attou arrived in Châtillon at approximately 05:00 and drove Abdeslam back to Brussels. Their journey was captured by a surveillance camera at a service station. They passed two checkpoints without hindrance because, although Abdeslam's name had by then been found on the rental documents of the car used by the Bataclan attackers and left outside the theatre, it had not yet been entered into all police computer systems. Once back in Brussels, Abdeslam purchased new clothes and a phone, and visited a barber to alter his appearance. Another friend, Ali Oulkadi, then drove him to a hideout in the district of Schaerbeek.

4. Fugitive and arrest

Following the Paris attacks, French and Belgian authorities released Abdeslam's photo and name on 15 November 2015, making him Europe's most wanted man. His brother, Mohammed Abdeslam, who had been briefly arrested in Molenbeek on 14 November and released without charge, publicly appealed to Salah to surrender. Mohammed stated that he had not noticed any signs of radicalization in his brothers, Salah and Brahim, although he acknowledged they had recently become more religious.

Despite being the focus of an extensive manhunt, Abdeslam managed to evade capture for four months. He initially spent two weeks in a hideout on Rue Henri Bergé/Henri Bergéstraat in Schaerbeek, alongside other members of the Brussels terrorist cell who were actively plotting further attacks. He then moved to another hideout on Avenue de l'Exposition/Tentoonstellingslaan in the Jette district for a few days, before being relocated to 60 Rue du Dries/Driesstraat in the Forest district of Brussels.

On 15 March 2016, Belgian and French police conducted an anti-terrorist raid on the flat in Forest. They had anticipated the property to be empty, as its power supply had been cut off. However, they were met with gunfire and had to call for reinforcements. During the ensuing shootout, gunman Mohamed Belkaid engaged the police, allowing Abdeslam and Tunisian Sofien Ayari to escape through a back window. Belkaid was subsequently killed by a police sniper, and four police officers were injured. Inside the flat, investigators discovered a cache of weapons, an Islamic State flag, and Abdeslam's fingerprints.

After escaping the Forest raid, Abdeslam contacted his cousin, Abid Aberkan, who agreed to provide shelter for him and Ayari at his mother's flat in Molenbeek. Aberkan was already under surveillance by the authorities, which enabled the police to track down Abdeslam. On 18 March 2016, Abdeslam, along with Ayari, was arrested during an anti-terror police raid on the Aberkan family's flat, located at 79 Rue des Quatre-Vents/Vier-Winden-Straat in Molenbeek, very close to his childhood home. As he attempted to escape, he was shot in the leg.

5. Detention, investigation, and trials

Salah Abdeslam's detention marked the beginning of a complex legal process involving multiple investigations and trials across Belgium and France.

5.1. Detention and initial questioning

Following his arrest, Abdeslam received treatment in a hospital for the minor wound to his leg. The day after his arrest, he was transferred to the high-security wing of Bruges Prison and formally charged with terrorist murder and participation in a terror group. Initially, Abdeslam cooperated with investigators, admitting to having rented hotel rooms and cars, and to driving three bombers to the Stade de France. However, he soon decided to exercise his right to silence. He refused to answer any questions when interrogated immediately after the 2016 Brussels bombings on 22 March 2016, which killed 32 people and injured hundreds at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and on a train leaving Maalbeek/Maelbeek metro station in central Brussels. These attacks were carried out by the Brussels terrorist cell and were reportedly brought forward by Abdeslam's arrest. Prior to the Brussels bombings, Abdeslam had only been questioned for about an hour, as he was recovering from surgery on his leg, and the questioning focused solely on his role in the Paris attacks, not on any imminent threats.

A month after his arrest, Abdeslam was transferred from Bruges Prison to Beveren Prison near Antwerp. This transfer was intended to prevent him from communicating with Mohamed Abrini, who had been moved from Forest Prison to Bruges Prison. On 21 April 2016, Abdeslam was charged with attempted murder in connection with the shootout in Forest that occurred three days before his arrest. On 27 April, he was extradited to France under a European Arrest Warrant issued by France on 19 March 2016. He was placed under formal investigation for murder and attempted murder of a terrorist nature and subsequently transferred to Fleury-Mérogis Prison south of Paris. During this period, he was represented by Belgian lawyer Sven Mary and French lawyer Frank Berton.

5.2. First Brussels trial

Abdeslam and Sofien Ayari faced trial at the Palais de Justice in Brussels on 5 February 2018. The charges stemmed from the attempted murder of police officers during the Forest shootout, which had resulted in four officers being injured. On the first day of the trial, Abdeslam attended court and explained his decision to refuse to answer questions, stating that his silence constituted his defense and alleging that the legal process was biased against Muslims. After this initial appearance, he declined to attend the remainder of the trial. His lawyer, Sven Mary, argued for an acquittal on a technicality, claiming that one of the court documents had been incorrectly issued in French instead of Dutch. Despite this argument, Abdeslam and Ayari were found guilty. On 23 April 2018, both were sentenced to 20 years in prison, which was the penalty requested by the prosecution.

5.3. Paris attacks trial

The trial related to the 2015 Paris attacks began on 8 September 2021, following a four-year investigation. On 29 November 2019, the French national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office had charged Abdeslam and thirteen other individuals in connection with the attacks, issuing an additional six arrest warrants. The trial, which lasted nearly ten months, took place in a specially constructed courtroom within the Palais de Justice, Paris, presided over by five judges led by Jean-Louis Périès. Nineteen men were on trial alongside Abdeslam, including six who were tried in absentia (Ahmed Dahmani, who was imprisoned in Turkey, and five others presumed dead in Syria). The thirteen defendants present in court with Abdeslam included Abrini, Ayari, Amri, Attou, and Oulkadi. Abdeslam was defended by French lawyers Olivia Ronen and Martin Vettes.

At the beginning of the trial, Abdeslam adopted a confrontational stance. When asked his profession, he declared himself a "fighter for the Islamic State." He also complained about the conditions at Fleury-Mérogis Prison, where he was held in solitary confinement under 24-hour camera surveillance. During the second week of the trial, defendants were given the opportunity to make a short statement. Abdeslam claimed that the attacks were an act of retaliation against France for its bombing of the Islamic State and were "nothing personal," remarks that deeply shocked the survivors and victims' relatives present in court.

As the trial progressed, Abdeslam's attitude shifted. In February 2022, he denied killing anyone and began to answer questions about his radicalization. The court also heard a statement from his former fiancé, who testified that he had not been a practicing Muslim, had not observed Ramadan, and had shown no interest in politics. In April, Abdeslam spoke for the first time about the night of the attacks, breaking his silence that had lasted since his arrest in 2016. He told the court that he had entered a bar in the 18th arrondissement of Paris with the intention of detonating his suicide vest but had changed his mind at the last minute "out of humanity, not fear." The prosecution, however, maintained that forensic evidence indicated the device had malfunctioned. He concluded his testimony by offering apologies to the victims.

The prosecution sought a full-life term of imprisonment for Abdeslam, arguing that his reintegration into society would be impossible given his ideology. In her closing speech for the defense, Ronen contended that Abdeslam had not personally killed anyone on the night of 13 November 2015 and that he did not pose a danger to society. Before the judges retired to consider their verdict, the defendants were permitted to address the court. Abdeslam stated that he was not a killer and that a murder conviction would be an injustice.

The verdicts were announced on the evening of 29 June 2022. Abdeslam was found guilty of murder and terrorism and sentenced to a full-life term of imprisonment, meaning he would have only a small chance of parole after thirty years. The court explicitly rejected his testimony about a last-minute change of heart regarding his suicide vest, instead accepting forensic evidence that indicated the device was not working. Of the other nineteen individuals on trial, eighteen were found guilty of terrorist offenses, while one was convicted solely of criminal offenses. All received prison sentences ranging from two years to life. Abrini, who had driven with Abdeslam to Paris, was also sentenced to life imprisonment. Ayari, arrested with Abdeslam, received a thirty-year sentence for planning an attack on Schiphol Airport that was not carried out. Amri and Attou, who had collected Abdeslam from Paris after the attacks, were sentenced to eight and four years in prison, respectively, while Oulkadi, who had driven Abdeslam to a hideout upon his return to Brussels, was sentenced to five years.

Abdeslam chose not to appeal his sentence. His lawyers disagreed with this decision and declined to represent him in his upcoming trial in Brussels. They were replaced by Belgian lawyers Delphine Paci, who had defended Attou in the Paris trial, and Michel Bouchat.

5.4. Second Brussels trial

On 12 August 2019, Abdeslam had been formally charged with involvement in the 2016 Brussels bombings. Following the conclusion of the Paris attacks trial, he was transferred from Fleury-Mérogis Prison in France to Ittre/Itter Prison south of Brussels, awaiting trial for his role in planning the Brussels bombings.

The trial was initially scheduled to commence in October 2022 but was delayed until December because defense lawyers objected to the design of the defendants' box in the courtroom, necessitating its rebuilding. Nine men, including Abrini and Ayari, were on trial with Abdeslam. The trial, which spanned seven months, was conducted with a jury and presided over by Judge Laurence Massart in the Justitia building (the former headquarters of NATO) in Evere, Brussels. Throughout the trial, Abdeslam and the six other detained defendants were held at Haren Prison, located a few kilometers from the Justitia building. Verdicts were delivered on 25 July 2023, with Abdeslam convicted of terrorist-related murder and attempted murder.

However, Abdeslam did not receive an additional sentence for these convictions. This was because he had already been sentenced to twenty years in prison for the Forest shootout. The court determined that the Forest shootout and the Brussels terror attacks were connected, and under Belgian law, an individual cannot receive more than one sentence for connected crimes.

After the Brussels trial concluded, Abdeslam was scheduled to be transferred back to France to continue serving his whole-life sentence for the Paris attacks. However, he appealed against this transfer. His lawyers argued that his whole-life sentence was "inhuman and degrading" and that all his relatives resided in Belgium, therefore, the transfer would violate his human rights. The appeals court initially suspended the transfer. Nevertheless, on 7 February 2024, Abdeslam was transferred back to France. The Belgian prosecutor's office argued that the judicial agreement with France, which stipulated his return after the trial, took precedence over the appeal court's suspension of the transfer.

6. Ideology and Motives

Salah Abdeslam's ideology and motives for his involvement in terrorism have been a subject of scrutiny during his trials. At the outset of the Paris attacks trial, he defiantly declared himself a "fighter for the Islamic State." He asserted that the attacks were an act of retaliation against France for its military actions against the Islamic State, stating they were "nothing personal." This suggested a motivation rooted in extremist ideology and a perceived justification for violence against a state.

However, his narrative evolved during the trial. He later denied personally killing anyone and claimed that his decision not to detonate his suicide vest on the night of the Paris attacks was made "out of humanity, not fear." This statement contrasted sharply with his earlier self-identification as an Islamic State fighter. Furthermore, testimony from his former fiancé revealed a different picture of his personal life, stating that he had not been a practicing Muslim, had not observed Ramadan, and had not shown interest in politics. This suggests that his radicalization might have been a more recent or superficial development, or that his public persona shifted based on his legal strategy. Despite his claims of a change of heart, the court ultimately found his suicide vest to be faulty, casting doubt on his stated motive for not detonating it.

7. Personal life

Salah Abdeslam was born on 15 September 1989, in Molenbeek, Brussels. His family originated from Morocco and had acquired French nationality. He has three older brothers and a younger sister. His brother, Brahim Abdeslam, was also a perpetrator in the 2015 Paris attacks, dying as a suicide bomber. Salah lived at home with his parents and another brother, Mohammed. Publicly, it was known that he had a former fiancé, whose testimony during his trial shed some light on his personal habits before his radicalization, indicating he was not a strict practicing Muslim and was not politically engaged.

8. Assessment and Impact

Salah Abdeslam's actions as a central figure in the 2015 Paris attacks and his connections to the 2016 Brussels bombings represent a profound violation of human rights and caused immense social disruption. The Paris attacks alone resulted in 130 fatalities and over 490 injuries, while the Brussels bombings claimed 32 lives and injured hundreds. These events underscore the devastating human cost of terrorism and the direct assault on the fundamental right to life and safety.

His case highlights critical perspectives on counter-terrorism strategies and public safety policies. The extensive four-month manhunt following the Paris attacks, during which he was Europe's most wanted man, demonstrated the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in tracking and apprehending individuals involved in complex terrorist networks. The fact that he managed to evade capture for so long, moving between various hideouts and relying on a network of associates, exposed vulnerabilities in intelligence sharing and cross-border cooperation at the time.

The legal proceedings against Abdeslam also sparked significant ethical and legal debates, particularly concerning the imposition of a full-life sentence. While the French court deemed his reintegration into society impossible given his ideology, his lawyers argued that such a sentence was "inhuman and degrading" and a breach of his human rights, especially in the context of his family residing in Belgium. This raised questions about the balance between punitive justice for horrific crimes and the principles of human dignity and rehabilitation, even for convicted terrorists. The Belgian court's decision not to impose an additional sentence for the Brussels bombings, due to legal principles against multiple sentences for connected crimes, further complicated the public perception of justice.

Abdeslam's radicalization and his stated affiliation with the Islamic State also prompted deeper examination of the factors contributing to extremism within European communities. His background, moving from petty crime to radical ideology, illustrates a pathway that counter-terrorism efforts aim to disrupt. His case serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing threat of terrorism and the imperative for robust international cooperation, effective intelligence gathering, and comprehensive strategies to protect public safety and uphold human rights against such destructive actions.