The anti-terrorism prosecutor requested Friday, May 13 the maximum sentence, ten years in prison, against Saber Lahmar, cleared of Guantanamo and tried in Paris for having incited several people to leave for Iraq or Syria.
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With regard to this 52-year-old Algerian, she requested a two-thirds security period as well as a “
definitive ban from national territory
”.
Called by many faithful "
the sheikh
", having studied Islam in Medina, Saudi Arabia, Saber Lahmar, who officiated as an imam in the first half of the 2010s in the Bordeaux region, according to the magistrate "
used his knowledge to encourage the departure of a family with young children and of an individual in the area, one of whom died there
".
“No ounce of questioning on anything”
"
He favored the departure of individuals who fought, also causing the death of other people on the spot
," said the anti-terrorism prosecutor.
Seven departures have been attributed to him, by the courts but also by relatives of the departing: Othman Yekhlef has been considered "
dead on
the spot" since the end of 2015, while Salim Machou, who left with his wife and four children, was sentenced to death in 2019 by Iraqi justice for his membership in the Islamic State group.
According to the prosecutor of the anti-terrorist prosecution, "
there are undoubtedly in Saber Lahmar the consequences of what he has experienced
", eight years of detention and "
torture
" in the sinister military prison of Guantanamo, on a naval base from the island of Cuba, from which he emerged cleared by American justice before being welcomed by France.
But the defendant, who challenged the procedure and the charges during the four days of hearing, has according to her "
no ounce of questioning on anything
".
Regarding the other defendant, Mohamed H., considered Saber Lahmar's "
second
", the prosecutor requested six years' imprisonment, without a security period but with a warrant of detention with deferred effect.
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The defendant, speechless during the pronouncement of the required sentence, was according to the prosecutor neither the "
blind witness
" of these departures, nor "
the unfortunate actor of the file
".
For her, Mohamed H. “
knew the project
” of leaving for the area and favored it.
The defendant had recognized for the first time during the hearing his past "
radicalization
" but had disputed any "
support
" for the Islamic State organization and any involvement in the departures.
"
Until he has done this work on himself, he is likely to reoffend
," she said.
The 16th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court should reserve its decision for June.