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PARIS TERROR ATTACKS

CHARLIE HEBDO

Danish PM to join world leaders at Paris rally

A mass demonstration will be held in Paris on Sunday as European and world leaders unite to condemn the horrific terror attacks that gripped France this week.

Published: 11 January 2015 10:43 CET
Danish PM to join world leaders at Paris rally
People rally on Saturday in the city of Lille, as tens of thousands of people staged rallies across France following three days of terror and twin siege dramas that claimed 17 victims. Photo: AFP/Deni
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt will be among the European leaders who will make an extraordinary show of support for France by joining a mass rally in Paris on Sunday amid a wave of solidarity following after the bloody end to the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
 
Global outrage and offers of assistance poured in after French police killed Islamist gunmen in two sieges in the Paris region.
 
 
The horror was so universal that even foes of the west North Korea and Cuba sent condolences, while bitter enemies Israel and Iran were at least united in their condemnation of the slaughter.
 

The latest attacks prompted vigils in several cities in Denmark and around the world to declare "Je suis Charlie" in a show of support for free speech.
 
At a rally in Copenhagen, Danish Defence Minister Nicolai Wammen vowed that Denmark's commitment to fighting Isis jihadists will not be swayed by attacks like the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
 
 
European leaders united
Prime ministers David Cameron and Mariano Rajoy of Britain and Spain, whose countries have suffered major terror attacks in the past decade, were among
the first to say they would attend. Cameron said Sunday's rally would be celebrate "the values behind Charlie Hebdo".
 
In addition to Thorning-Schmidt, the will be joined by the leaders of Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Ukraine.
 
European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said they would attend the Paris rally as well, accompanied by EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.
 
The global reaction in some ways mirrors the outpouring of support after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when French newspaper "Le Monde" announced on its front page "Today, we are all Americans."
 
World leaders condemned the 9/11 attacks and offered aid, while mourners piled flowers at US embassies and Buckingham Palace played the US national anthem at the changing of the guard.
 
Israel, Iran, Hezbollah condemn
French police on Friday stormed a print works north of Paris where the two brothers who attacked Charlie Hebdo were holed up, killing both in a hail of automatic fire.
 
The attack Wednesday on the magazine, which has published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, left 12 dead.
 
Heavily armed police also raided a kosher supemarket where an alleged associate of the brothers had taken hostages, killing the gunman. Four hostages were found dead, but others were rescued.
 
Fresh condemnation of the attacks came from around the world — including from opposing sides of ideological and strategic divides.
 
"I want the people of France to know that the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow," said US President Barack Obama, describing France as America's "oldest ally."
 
Britain's Prince Harry signed a book of condolence in London.
 
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered condolences and aid over what the country earlier called a "terrorist offensive," while also asking France to maintain tight security on Jewish sites "even after things return to normal."
 
"Our hearts are with the families of the victims. Israel offers you any help that France may need," Israeli government sources told AFP, following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and French President Francois Hollande.
 
Israel's sworn enemies Iran and Hezbollah also condemned the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, saying they harmed the cause of Muslims around the world.
 
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said "violence and terrorism is reprehensible whether in this region, in Europe or in the United States."
 
The chief of the powerful Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said Sunni jihadists have caused more offence to Muslims than any book, cartoon or film.
 
"Through their shameful, heinous, inhumane and cruel words and acts, [these groups] have offended the prophet, religion… the holy book and the Muslim people more than any other enemy," said Nasrallah in a televised speech.
 
North Korea condolences
North Korea, which has been accused of hacking Sony Pictures over a controversial movie about leader Kim Jong-Un, also condemned the attacks on Charlie Hebdo.
 
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong issued a message of condolence through the state news agency in which he "reaffirmed the principled stand of the DPRK to oppose all sorts of terrorism."
 
Cuba, which has also been accused by rights groups of suppressing freedom of speech, similarly paid respect.
 
"President Raul Castro sent a message of condolence to president Hollande for the terrorist attack," a foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
 
The rallies that have drawn thousands of people together in cities around the world in support of Charlie Hebdo continued too.
 
In Istanbul, dozens of Turkish journalists gathered to call for journalistic freedom.
 
"The Charlie Hebdo cartoonists wore the flag of freedom of thought with the greatest of courage," said Ercan Akyol, a newspaper cartoonist.
 
Several dozen Muslims gathered outside Vienna's main mosque after Friday prayers with placards reading "No to Terror" and "Not in my name".
 
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban condemned the "barbaric, brutal attack", adding that it was "especially poignant that this happened so close to us, in the European Union." But the head of the far-right Jobbik party, Gabor Vona, called for tougher immigration controls, saying that a "new era began on Wednesday" when "terrorism immigrated into Europe".

TERRORISM

Charlie Hebdo terror attacks: French court jails accomplices

A Paris court on Wednesday handed jail terms ranging from four years to life to more than a dozen people convicted of helping Islamist gunmen who attacked satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and customers at a Jewish supermarket in January 2015.

Published: 16 December 2020 17:53 CET
Updated: 16 December 2020 23:23 CET
Charlie Hebdo terror attacks: French court jails accomplices
Court sketches of the 14 accused. Photo: AFP

Survivors and family members of the dead sat in silence as the verdicts were read out, which they hailed afterwards as a victory for justice and freedom of speech after a sometimes traumatic trial that revived the horror of the killings.

The editor of Charlie Hebdo Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau, who lives under round-the-clock police protection, was also in court to hear the sentencing by a five-member team of magistrates who had listened to evidence against the accused over three months. 

“It's been painful, searing. It's been a stage in our mourning process, necessary and unavoidable,” said a lawyer for Charlie Hebdo, Richard Malka. “I hope it's the start of something else, of an awareness, a wake up call.” 

In the absence of the attackers themselves — all three were killed by security forces in the days after their rampage — French investigators instead focused on accomplices to the men, including their weapon suppliers.

The main accused, Ali Riza Polat, was judged to have known about his friend Amedy Coulibaly's plans to take part in the attacks, and was given a 30-year sentence for complicity, which he immediately said he would appeal.

Another 10 accused were present in court, all men ranging from 29 to 68 years old with prior criminal records but no terror convictions. They were all found guilty on a range of charges.

In all, 13 sentences were handed down, including to two accused who were tried in absentia: Hayat Boumeddiene, the partner of gunman Coulibaly, received a 30-year sentence, while Mohamed Belhoucine, a known Islamic extremist, was handed a life term.

Both of them are presumed to be in Syria and may be dead.

A fourteenth suspect was not sentenced because he was convicted in a separate terror trial earlier this year and is thought to dead. 

'Freedom has last word' 

During the attacks in January 2015, seventeen people were killed over three days, beginning with the massacre of 12 people at Charlie Hebdo magazine by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.

They said they were acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda to avenge Charlie Hebdo's decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, while Coulibaly had sworn loyalty to the Islamic State group.

Coulibaly was responsible for the murder of a French policewoman and a hostage-taking at a Hyper Cacher market in which four Jewish men were killed.

Those shot dead in the Charlie Hebdo office included some of France's most celebrated cartoonists such as Jean Cabut, known as Cabu, 76, Georges Wolinski, 80, and Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier, 47.

To mark the start of the trial on September 2, the fiercely anti-religion magazine defiantly republished the prophet cartoons, leading to a fresh violence and protests against France in many Muslim countries.

Three weeks later, a Pakistani man wounded two people outside the magazine's former offices, hacking at them with a cleaver.

On October 16, a young Chechen refugee beheaded teacher Samuel Paty who had showed some of the caricatures to his pupils.

And on October 29, three people were killed when a young Tunisian recently arrived in Europe went on a stabbing spree in a church in the Mediterranean city of Nice.

President Emmanuel Macron's government has introduced legislation to tackle radical Islamist activity in France, a bill that has stirred anger in some Muslim countries.

On the cover of its new issue published before the verdicts, Charlie Hebdo in typically provocative style published a picture of God being led away in a police van with the title “God put in his place”.

“The cycle of violence, which had began in the offices of Charlie Hebdo, will finally be closed,” editor Riss, who was badly injured in the attacks, wrote in an editorial.

“At least from the perspective of criminal law, because from a human one, the consequences will never be erased,,” he added.

'Thanks to justice' 

The Charlie Hebdo killings triggered a global outpouring of solidarity with France under the “I am Charlie” slogan and signalled the start of a wave of Islamist attacks around Europe.

Later that year, in November 2015, Paris was again besieged when Islamist gunmen went on the rampage at the Bataclan concert hall, the national stadium and at a host of bars and restaurants.

A trial of the only surviving gunman and suspected accomplices is expected to start in September next year. 

Christophe Deloire, the head of press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said he welcomed the verdict in court on Wednesday.

“It is proof that violent extremists don't have the last word. Thanks to justice, it is freedom that has the last word,” he wrote on Twitter.

Patrick Klugman, lawyer for the victims at Hyper Cacher, said: “For most of the victims… I believe that they have feeling of having been heard.”

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