Trial of three suspected jihadists: "I was hot to go to Syria, not for an attack in France"

"

I was hot to go to Syria but never in my life to carry out an attack in France

", defended Strasbourg Hicham Makran Thursday, tried by the special court of assizes of Paris, with two co-defendants, for to have planned an attack on French soil in 2016.

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In the end, Hicham Makran, 41, has never been to Syria and is suspected of having wanted to commit "

a mass murder

" in Paris with his accomplice and childhood friend Yassine Bousseria, also in the box of accused.

With a third man, the Moroccan Hicham El-Hanafi, 30, they appear for terrorist conspiracy.

They each face 30 years of criminal imprisonment.

Long, greasy hair of gel, a thick beard sticking out of his surgical mask, Hicham Makran struggles to find his words.

Psychologists' reports emphasize his "

limited capacity for understanding

."

He is sometimes lost when the President or the Advocates General use words he clearly does not understand.

His "

enlistment

" - one of the terms whose meaning he does not understand - within the Islamic State (IS) dates back to 2014, he says.

“

I was shocked by (the images) of children being torn apart

” by the bombings in Syria.

"

In my head,

he continues,

the intention to leave came

".

“

They (IS agents, Editor's note) said: We need you in Syria, we need a lot of people, doctors.

I was sorry… It was for the children,

”says Hicham Makran.

"

Well, you weren't a doctor,

" the president remarks rather wickedly.

"

No, no

", mumbles the accused who claims to have intended to be a cook for the Islamic State.

"

But we do not choose our role, if IS had put a gun in your hands you would have had to fight,

" insists the president.

"

Yes

", concedes the accused, head down.

"

And attacks, you wanted to commit?

», Continues the president.

“

No, not in France,

” protests the accused.

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In February 2015, he embarked for Syria with his friend Yassine Bousseria.

Two former friends of the neighborhood, Oumar Diaw and Lakhdar Sebouai, have already been there since 2013 and 2014 respectively. Oumar Diaw with whom Hicham Makran has never cut ties explains to him how to deceive the vigilance of the European police.

Makran and Bousseria take the train from Strasbourg to Zurich then the plane to Cyprus before taking the ferry to Turkey from where they intend to join the IS caliphate in the Iraqi-Syrian zone.

Everything is going as planned, but in Gaziantep, the Turkish city on the Syrian border and an obligatory crossing point for jihad candidates, Hicham Makran explains that he "

was afraid

".

“

We stayed in Gaziantep for half an hour.

It was full of Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters, editor's note).

We preferred to leave,

”says Makran.

"

Peshmerga in a Turkish town?"

», The Advocate General is surprised, embarking on a brief lesson in geopolitics.

"

Peshmerga ... Turkish soldiers ... they were soldiers."

I do not know how to distinguish a Kurd from a Turk,

”replied the accused.

IS does not hold it against the two "

deserters

".

While they are still in Turkey, in Adana, Oumar Diaw sends them a file (which the two Strasbourg residents load on a USB key) to communicate in an encrypted manner with the Islamic organization upon their return to France.

"

In fact, it was a process of integration into ISIS online,

" quips Lawyer General Saliha Hand-Ouali.

"

That's it

", replies the accused without knowing whether he understood correctly the remark of the prosecution.

It is with this encrypted key that Bousseria and Makran will continue their dialogue with ISIS.

"

Why didn't you stop corresponding with them?"

Wants to know the president.

“

For fear of reprisals

,” Makran said.

On November 15, 2016, more than 18 months after their return from the Turkish-Syrian border, an order giver in Syria asked the two Strasbourg residents to go and retrieve weapons hidden in the forest of Montmorency (Val d'Oise) without knowing that this arms cache is a trap set up by the DGSI (the internal intelligence service).

Police arrest the two men before they take action.

"

We would never have carried out an attack

", affirms Makran who, in turn, is ironic by declaring: "

Fortunately we were arrested!

"

“

If the investigators had been a little smarter, they would have ambushed

” Montmorency, he said.