The man who stabbed one person to death and wounded six others in Mulhouse, eastern France, has been charged with terrorism offences and remanded in custody. Prime Minister François Bayrou said the attacker had been under a deportation order to Algeria for previous crimes, but Algeria had repeatedly refused to take him back.
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor, Pnat, has charged the attacker, identified as Brahim Abdessemed, with murder and attempted murder, and violence against public officials for using weapons against police officers who pursued him, on his stabbing spree in the covered market in Mulhouse on Saturday.
In court, the magistrate agreed with the prosecutor’s request to keep Abdessemed in custody.
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Born in Algeria, Abdessemed was in France illegally, had been the subject of a deportation order after being convicted of supporting terrorism in the past, but Bayrou said Wednesday that Algeria refused “10 times” to take him back.
This has been the case for other cases in recent weeks, amid mounting tensions between France and Algeria after France last year recognised Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, where the Algeria-backed Polisario Front is seeking an independent state.
Detention
The prosecutor said that Abdessemed, who shouted Allahou akbar (God is the greatest, in Arabic) during the attack, had partially admitted to the facts, but “disputed any adherence to jihadist theories”.
In previous cases Abdessemed had been found to be schizophrenic, although a psychiatric examination this week concluded “that he had not acted in a delirious state” and that his state of health did not keep him from being held in custody.
His two brothers and the person who he was living with, who had also been detained for questioning, were found not to have been involved in the attack, and were released.
(with AFP)
