"Even in my wildest dreams, I did not believe it", rejoiced Friday the lawyer of Reda Hame, the French jihadist recruited in Syria by the alleged coordinator of the attacks of November 13 in Paris and St. Denis, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, at the announcement of the verdict of 14 years in prison imposed on appeal to his client.
The Special Assize Court did not follow the requisitions of the Advocate General who had requested the maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment against the accused.
The court attached this sentence to a two-thirds security period and the inclusion of Reda Hame in the file of perpetrators of terrorist offenses (Fijait).
"A positive development" in his behavior
But for Me Archibald Celeyron this verdict is "very good news".
It more or less confirms the judgment at first instance which, in February 2020, sentenced Reda Hame to 12 years in prison.
While stressing that the charges against the accused "are extremely serious", the court, chaired by David Hill, recognized that the latest reports drawn up in detention in 2020 and 2021 found "a positive development" of behavior. of the accused.
In solitary confinement since his imprisonment in August 2015, Reda Hame, 35, "does not seem to present any adherence to a violent ideology, nor any risk of committing a violent act," according to a report from the Prison Service of integration and probation (Spip), cited by the Assize Court.
The court also recalled that the criminal record of this former computer technician does not contain any mention.
He even warned the DGSI in August 2015 that a campaign of attacks was brewing on French soil, targeting concert halls in particular.
A blow for the anti-terrorism prosecution
The verdict is a severe blow to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) which considered Reda Hame to be an “elite element” of the Islamic State (IS).
In her indictment, the Advocate General had asked for an “exemplary” sanction “commensurate with the commitment” of the accused alongside the Islamist organization.
"We are dealing with someone deeply dangerous (...) Do not be fooled by appearances", she said to the court.
"If Reda Hame was not in the box today, it is either because he would have died (in an attack), or because he would be awaiting his trial", she added in alluding to the mega-trial of the November 13 attacks, which is due to open next September.
The recruiter of Reda Hame, the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, an "emir within the center of the external operations of the Islamic State, is considered as the sponsor of the attacks of November 13, 2015 which left 131 dead and hundreds wounded in Paris and in the suburbs.
"A work of introspection" necessary
If Reda Hame admitted to having spent a stay in Syria, in an area controlled by ISIS, between June 12 and 19, 2015 and to have been trained by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, he denies having intended to carry out an attack.
During his first trial, he had recounted having pretended to accept the murderous mission entrusted to him by ISIS and thus leave the Syrian “quagmire”.
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"I never wanted to hurt anyone," he recalled at the hearing on Friday.
"If Reda Hame recognized certain facts, a real work of introspection must be continued and deepened", qualified the court.