In the box of the 23rd chamber of the Paris Criminal Court, Shahid M., with a layered haircut, began by showing his casualness on Monday, November 6 at around 18:30 p.m. When asked if he would like to be "tried today" or if he would prefer the hearing to be postponed under the immediate appearance procedure, the Pakistani asylum-seeker replied in Urdu, translated through an interpreter: "You do as you wish!" "No, we're acting according to the law," the judge said angrily before the defendant chose the first option, with a slight smile.
However, the charges against him are serious. On November 2, at around 19 p.m., this 38-year-old exile with no criminal record caused panic in the Jewish quarter of Rue des Rosiers (Paris, <>th arrondissement), in the heart of the capital. Wearing a hood, he brandished a pair of scissors while shouting "Free Palestine" and "Allahu akbar". With "great aggressive gestures", according to the president, he threatened customers in the vicinity of the well-known kosher restaurant "L'As du falafel", some of whom, seized with fright, fled. A panic gripped passers-by.
"In the current context, we could imagine the worst," said the president, referring to the high risk of attacks linked to the conflict in the Middle East, which has also led to a worrying wave of anti-Semitic acts committed in France in recent weeks. The prosecutor also recalled that this same rue des Rosiers was the scene of an attack in 1982 that killed six people, committed by terrorists of an armed Palestinian group.
Stopped by a police patrol who immediately spotted that he "smelled of alcohol", Shahid M. again shouted "Allahu akbar" at the police station and shouted at a peacekeeper: "I shoot you". The official is a civil party in this case.
The accused's alcohol excuse
Four days after his furious ride, Shahid M. had time to sober. He was on trial for "violence at gunpoint" and "threatening to kill a person holding public authority". The anti-Semitic character and the glorification of terrorism were not used to qualify his acts. The native of Islamabad, passed since 2010 through Italy, Switzerland and Germany, before trying his luck in France eleven months ago, presents himself as a guy "very simple" and "not mean". He insists that he is "not a terrorist", not "someone who is going to kill someone", that he did not "hit" or "hurt anyone" in this story.
The culprit in his eyes is not him, but alcohol. "I'd had too much to drink, I've been drinking for 20 years," he says, declaring that he runs on "a bottle of Jack Daniel's and two or three beers" every day. He promised to "be careful" in the future. "It's not an excuse to be drunk, on the contrary, it's an aggravating circumstance," the president said.
As he was under the influence of drink, the 30-year-old swears he "forgot everything". But the amnesiac nevertheless maintains that he "never" chanted "Free Palestine" despite the statements to the contrary of many witnesses. "I don't give a fuck about Palestine, it's not linked to my country," the migrant continues. He also wants to make it clear that he is not a "practicing" Muslim. "You see, I'm drinking!" he argues.
"We don't really know who we're dealing with"
If he ended up in the rue des Rosiers, which is home to a synagogue and shops run by the Jewish community, it was pure chance according to him. "I didn't know I was in a Jewish neighborhood," he said. Nor was he aware that L'As du Fallafel is "a Jewish restaurant." "I swear to you on my mother who died!"
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This homeless man stranded in Orléans (Loiret), who presents himself as a hairdresser working under the table, had gone up to the capital, he claims, to cut "someone's hair", hence the pair of scissors in his pocket. "Scissors with round tips, not sharp," says his lawyer. The black robe acknowledged that her client had caused "legitimate concern" but said he had not shouted anything that "amounted to anti-Semitism" and that "no particular person was threatened except the police officer."
But for the prosecutor, this defendant is "not very reassuring" because "he does not give explanations". "We don't really know who we're dealing with," she says, expressing surprise to see "smiles" and "few emotions in the box." "It is obviously worrisome for the prosecution," she concluded, before asking for ten months in prison, four of which were suspended. The court eventually sentenced him to six months' imprisonment, suspended for two years. During this period, he has, among other things, an obligation to provide care. He walked out of court free.