Moroccan-Born Belgian IS Member... 130 Dead in Shooting and Bombing Attacks
Marriage by Phone with Father-Selected Woman... No Legal Effect
Sala Abdeslam (33), a member of the IS organization who carried out the terrorist attack in Paris, France in November 2015, got married in prison last summer. Photo by EPA Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] It was recently revealed that a member of the Islamic State (IS) organization, who took 130 lives in indiscriminate shootings and bomb attacks around Paris, France, in November 2015, got married while in prison.
On the 4th (local time), local media such as Le Figaro and RTL collectively reported that Salah Abdeslam (33), the terrorist who was sentenced to life imprisonment, the highest court sentence, at the end of June, had a "religious marriage" this summer while incarcerated at Fleury-M?rogis Prison.
Salah Abdeslam, of Moroccan descent and born in Belgium, is known to have manufactured the bombs used in the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks. Other members involved in the attack either committed suicide or were shot dead by police, but Abdeslam escaped after discarding a suicide bomb vest that malfunctioned. As the only surviving Paris terrorist, Abdeslam was declared a "public enemy" and earned the nickname "Europe's most wanted terrorist." Four months after fleeing, in March 2016, he was captured in an apartment in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Belgium, and then transferred to France.
He received numerous letters in prison, mostly from young women who had fallen into extremism. Among these women, two wished to marry Abdeslam, but after this fact was reported in the media, they eventually changed their minds. Abdeslam's marriage partner was a woman chosen by Abdeslam's father, and he himself had never met her. The woman's detailed identity, including her name and nationality, has not been disclosed. French intelligence authorities have been monitoring Abdeslam's phone calls and letters continuously, so they detected that his marriage was imminent even before it was finalized. The marriage was conducted over the phone and is a "religious marriage" recognized by a religious institution, not a legal marriage.
The IS attack on November 13, 2015, in Paris, France, was carried out at six locations including the Stade de France stadium and the Bataclan theater, resulting in 130 deaths, 416 injuries, and the deaths of eight attackers by suicide or police shooting. At that time, France imposed a partial state of emergency across Paris and declared a three-day national mourning period.
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