Her dark eyes reflect her fatigue. Three-day beard, hair cut very short. A white sweater and jeans. Reda Hame appeared this Thursday at the Special Assizes of the Palais de justice de Paris. The French jihadist is on trial for "terrorist criminal association".
Arrested in August 2015, the 34-year-old man today visited Syria in June 2015 and declared that he had been recruited by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, suspected brain of the attacks of November 13, 2015. During this stay, "Abou Omar "would have proposed to Reda Hame to strike France, ideally festive gathering places like concert halls.
His departure for Syria ferments from 2014. Reda Hame leaves his duties as a computer scientist at EADS, "incompatible with his convictions" when he discovers that the company manufactures weapons. He broke up with his girlfriend at the time, carried out several searches on the Islamic State organization on the Internet. Hame expressed his desire to go in search of a cousin, who disappeared in Morocco. "I was a little influenced," he says. I saw my cousin as a big brother. "
"The anthill strategy"
Reda Hame leaves for Turkey in May 2015. He tells his mother to go on vacation. The computer scientist crosses the Turkish border and joined Daesh at the beginning of June 2015. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a member of the organization, gave him express training in the handling of weapons. Reda Hame says she is "cold" when she arrives there and only wants to recover her passport to return home. To the point of accepting the proposal of "Abou Omar".
One of the investigators from the DGSI (Directorate General of Internal Security), in charge of the file, mentions during the hearing "the strategy of the Daech anthill" into which Reda Hame is integrated: train a maximum of jihadists for the return quickly to Europe. Not experienced in combat, Reda Hame nevertheless presents an interesting profile in the eyes of Abdelhamid Abaaoud. The Frenchman is in good standing with his papers, can easily blend into the crowd. "Many French people were in Raqqa, especially in June 2015", although Reda Hame said that he did not meet any French on the spot.
On the way back, Reda Hame goes through Istanbul, Belgrade, Prague, Amsterdam - where he buys cannabis to relieve injuries contracted during his intensive training in Syria, consumption which develops a feeling of "paranoia" at home - then Brussels , where he is suspected of having contacted Mohamed Abrini. The computer scientist, however, denies having met the "man in the hat" of the Brussels attacks in 2016.
The September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq
Born in 1985, Reda Hame grew up between the 15th and 17th districts of Paris, as well as the Yvelines. His parents separate when he is a teenager, without this causing him to present a behavioral disorder, tells during the hearing the psychiatrist who studied him in April 2017. The young man remains in contact with his mother and moves away from his father. Its radicalization had its origins in the attacks of September 11, 2001, then the war in Iraq in 2003.
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He manifests "a decrease in interest for his schooling" from the final year. After a professional baccalaureate, Reda Hame goes from work to this IT position at EADS. The psychiatrist refers to an individual in "good intelligence", presenting no behavioral or psychological disorder. "Internally integrated", Reda Hame "goes from one company to another, with a career perspective". The 34-year-old former computer scientist will be questioned about the facts this Friday early in the afternoon.
