Moroccan man accused of sheltering Daesh Terrorists, sentenced to four years in prison
A Frenchman who rented his flat to the ringleader of
the 2015 Paris attacks during a massive police manhunt was sentenced to four
years in prison Friday for "hiding terrorists".
Jawad Bendaoud was convicted on appeal of hiding
Islamic State group jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud and his accomplice Chakib
Akrouh, who holed up after the November 13 attacks in Bendaoud's apartment in
the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
He remained calm when the ruling was read out, just
shaking his head slightly.
Bendaoud was the first person to be tried in France
over the synchronised shooting and suicide attacks on the Bataclan concert
hall, national stadium and several cafes in which a total of 130 people were
killed.
Five days after the attacks, police tracked Abaaoud
down to Bendaoud’s flat and launched a dramatic raid, in which Abaaoud, Akrouh
and a female cousin of Abaaoud’s were killed.
Bendaoud, a 31-year-old drug dealer, became a
national laughing stock after declaring in an infamous TV interview that he had
detected nothing suspicious about his lodgers.
At his first trial, the court found insufficient
evidence that he knew the men were part of the November attacks cell.
Bendaoud presented himself as a cocaine-snorting
womaniser who was in the habit of renting out his flat to gangsters without
asking questions.
General Counsel Naïma Rudloff had demanded a
sentence of five years in prison for this repeat offender. “Jihadism has
provided morality to urban delinquency and delinquants have provided
opportunities for jihadists,” she said in her closing remarks.
Abaaoud's cousin Youssef Ait Boulahcen, a
26-year-old ambulance driver who was tried alongside him, was also sentenced to
a four-year custodial sentence on Friday for "failing to report a
terrorist crime".
In a separate case earlier this week, Bendaoud was
sentenced on appeal on Wednesday March 27 to one year in prison for “death
threats” against a survivor of the 13 November attacks.
