Trial of Reda Hame, jihadist recruited by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, begins

Text by: RFI Follow

The trial of Reda Hame opens this Thursday before the assizes of Paris. This Parisian, now 34 years old, is being prosecuted for "association of terrorist criminals with a view to committing crimes of attacks on persons". Arrested in August 2015, Reda Hame is notably accused of having joined the Islamic State group in Syria where he was allegedly sent to return to commit an attack in France by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the man considered to be the coordinator of the November 13 attacks.

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Reda Hame only spent 8 days in Syria with the Islamic State group in June 2015, but her profile immediately caught the eye of Abdelhamid Abaaoud , he told investigators after his arrest in August 2015.

" I quickly felt that I was leaving the standard recruitment system for a more restricted and specialized system, " explains Reda Hame.

Indeed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud then sought to carry out attacks in Europe. Computer scientist, single, born and living in Paris, Reda Hame has the feeling of being the ideal candidate for Abaaoud, who teaches him how to use weapons and gives him training in encryption.

We are 5 months before the attacks of November 13 and according to Reda Hame, Abdelhamid Abaaoud asked him: " Imagine a rock concert in a European country, if you are given enough to arm yourself, you would be ready to shoot the crowd? "

Can we then think that if he had not been arrested, Reda Hame would have been part of the jihadist commandos of November 13?

No, says the interested party who claims to have pretended to agree to commit an attack in France only to be able to leave Syria and stay alive, without having intended to do so.

A version which the investigators do not believe. They emphasize in particular that after his departure from Syria, Reda Hame followed several instructions given by Abaaoud and seems to have remained in contact with several jihadists.

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• Terrorism

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