Paris Attack: From Rapper To Suspected Killer

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 09 Januari 2015 | 16.15

One of the two brothers suspected of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris had been an aspiring rapper who briefly featured in a TV documentary.

In the footage filmed in 2004, Cherif Kouachi, 32, is seen rapping in English and dressed in jeans, a baggy sweatshirt, and a baseball hat worn backwards.

He and his older brother, 34-year-old Said, are now being hunted by police after they allegedly killed 12 people in the shootings at the offices of the satirical magazine.

How did a man who had apparently been more interested in girls and music than the Koran turn into an alleged killer?

The documentary portrayed Kouachi's abortive attempt to fight in Iraq and it quoted him as saying it was the teachings of a radical Muslim preacher in his Paris neighbourhood that put him on the path to jihad.

Born in eastern Paris to Algerian parents who died when the brothers were still children, Cherif grew up in an orphanage in the western city of Rennes.

He gained a sports teacher diploma, and returned to Paris where he delivered pizzas.

He also had a record for selling drugs and minor theft - but then he met Farid Benyettou, who was a year older, and practised a strict form of Salafism - a movement within Islam.

Benyettou acted as a mentor to several young men in the neighbourhood who attended a mosque in northeastern Paris.

Kouachi began going to prayer classes, watching jihadist videos and grew his beard.

In January 2005, aged 22, he was arrested as a member of a group, which also included Benyettou, that sent young French volunteer fighters to Iraq.

Kouachi's lawyer Vincent Ollivier said at the time of his arrest Kouachi's profile was more "pot-smoker from the projects than an Islamist".

"He smokes, drinks, doesn't sport a beard and has a girlfriend before marriage," Mr Ollivier told the French newspaper Liberation the month after his client was detained.

Kouachi testified during his 2008 trial that Benyettou taught him that suicide bombers could die as martyrs.

And he said he was greatly affected by the abuse of prisoners by US servicemen at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Kouachi was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008, but served only 18 months, at two of France's toughest prisons.

The experience changed him for good, recalled Mr Ollivier: "He wasn't into talking anymore. He wasn't the same."

His body, too, had changed thanks to working out in prison: "A pipsqueak who turned beefy," Mr Ollivier said.

One social worker interviewed in the France 3 documentary recalled that, while in detention awaiting trial, Kouachi began to understand he had been manipulated by Benyettou.

"He realised he had been taken for a ride and gotten tangled up in something that he himself hadn't even fathomed," he said.

But by now it was too late.

After serving his sentence, Kouachi was arrested in 2010, suspected of being part of a group that tried to break an extremist out of prison.

But police had little concrete evidence against him apart from some radical videos and al Qaeda speeches seized during a search of his home. He had also looked at jihadist sites online.

Kouachi was made an "assisted witness" in a case against another man - a special French status that implies suspicion of some implication - before he was entirely dropped from it.

This missed opportunity will likely be cited as France struggles to understand how much knowledge police had of the suspected perpetrator of the Paris attack.

Less is known publicly about Said Kouachi but French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said both were known to intelligence services and were likely being monitored before the Charlie Hebdo shootings.

The two brothers have been on the US no-fly list and terrorism database for years, Homeland Security officials have told US media.


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Paris Attack: From Rapper To Suspected Killer

Dengan url

http://malurasanya.blogspot.com/2015/01/paris-attack-from-rapper-to-suspected.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Paris Attack: From Rapper To Suspected Killer

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Paris Attack: From Rapper To Suspected Killer

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger