A sentence of 18 years of criminal imprisonment was requested on Friday March 10 against the Franco-Moroccan Chaïb Attaf, 42, "
total jihadist
" and "
hardliner
" according to the prosecution, tried before a special assize court in Paris for joining the Islamic State group in Libya.
The Advocate General also requested 8 years' imprisonment with a deferred committal warrant for his companion Dounia Bentefrit, 41, under judicial supervision since June 2022 and who appeared free.
The mother and children cloistered in insalubrity
The unemployed couple had slipped away from their home in Louvroil (North) in May 2016. A journey of several days through Belgium, Morocco and Algeria had led them, despite the hesitations of a smuggler in front of the young age of their two children, in a Libya at war where Daesh intended to push the doors of its self-proclaimed caliphate, and had notably transferred, in 2014, 300 fighters from the katiba al-batar based in Syria.
Before leaving, Chaïb Attaf, a native of Auxerre, spoke to Abdul M'Bojli, a veteran of AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) located in Sirte.
It is this port city that has become the stronghold of IS that was probably the destination of the family.
But the fighting will keep the mother and children in the North West, living for months cloistered in unsanitary conditions.
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When the Attaf left, "
there was no misunderstanding about the deadly project
" of the IS group or its methods, asserts the general counsel, listing the attacks and executions claimed by the group, including the execution of 21 Egyptian Copts on a Libyan beach in 2015. The Attaf have "
a shared family project
" and "
an unfailing determination
", according to the Advocate General convinced that only their arrest in May 2017 will stop them, leading them to spend two years in Libyan jails before to be deported in April 2019 to Egypt and then to France.
“
The years of shaping ” to “
frenziedly
” consult
online propaganda “
have made Chaïb Attaf a total jihadist, steeped in ideological fanaticism
” and become a fighter of the IS group.
The day before, the accused had downplayed his involvement, depicting "
a sham training
" limited to dismantling guns and months of wandering to avoid shelling.
During the trial which began on Monday, "
the ideology advocated by the terrorist group was not denied
" and the speech of the accused was sometimes "
very worrying
", according to the general counsel.
According to an official of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), heard during the trial, 1,400 French people joined Daesh territories, 30% of them women.
Six starts will be blocked for Libya, seven will succeed.
The verdict will be given on Friday evening.