The principle suspect in an assault that left one vacationer lifeless and two different folks injured in Paris was identified to French intelligence providers for Islamist extremism and had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State earlier than the assault, the French authorities stated on Sunday.
Jean-François Ricard, France’s prime antiterrorism prosecutor, stated at a information convention in Paris that the suspect had proven “persistent radicalization,” had a previous terrorism conviction and had been in touch on-line with jihadists accountable for terrorist assaults in France.
However the suspect, recognized as Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, additionally suffers from psychiatric problems, and the authorities had not detected any imminent plans to hold out an assault, regardless of a latest alert raised by the suspect’s mom, Mr. Ricard stated.
The assault on Saturday laid naked not solely the problem in monitoring suspected extremists with psychological well being points but additionally the challenges that lie forward for President Emmanuel Macron’s authorities because it tries to reassure the world that the 2024 Summer season Olympic Video games in Paris will probably be secure.
In an indication of how significantly the authorities had been treating the episode, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne oversaw a particular cupboard assembly on Sunday “to offer a full replace on the safety preparations in place, the remedy of essentially the most harmful people and the aftermath of this deadly assault,” her workplace stated.
The French inside minister, Gérald Darmanin, instructed TF1 tv on Sunday that the nation was “durably beneath risk from Islamist terrorism” however stated it might be able to host the Olympic Video games. They embrace a gap ceremony on the Seine that critics have referred to as extraordinarily tough to safe.
Mr. Macron’s authorities says that tens of 1000’s of safety forces will probably be deployed through the occasion, and Mr. Darmanin stated that areas close to the opening ceremony can be largely cordoned off, with tight safety and extremely restricted entry “in order that this type of factor doesn’t happen.”
France was hit with large-scale Islamist terrorist assaults in 2015 and 2016, after which by a string of smaller however lethal shootings and stabbings in subsequent years. The nation has been on its highest terrorism risk alert since October, when a instructor was killed in northern France.
The French authorities says that the police and intelligence providers have thwarted over 40 assault plots since 2017 however that the terrorist risk is especially acute in the mean time due to the warfare between Hamas and Israel.
The person who was killed in Saturday’s assault, a 23-year-old German vacationer of Filipino origin, was struck twice with a hammer and 4 occasions with a knife close to the Eiffel Tower by Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab, stated Mr. Ricard, the prosecutor.
Because the police had been pursuing him, the suspect barely wounded two different folks, a Frenchman and a British citizen, with the hammer, Mr. Ricard stated. Confronted by the police, he claimed he had an explosive belt. That turned out to not be the case; he was arrested after an officer subdued him with a stun gun, the authorities stated.
In a video recorded earlier than the assault, Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab, talking in Arabic, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, used a reputation to introduce himself that referred to the Islamic State in Afghanistan and expressed help for jihadists all over the world, Mr. Ricard stated. The video was printed on X, previously Twitter, from an account that was opened final month and that featured quite a few posts referring to Hamas and the warfare in Gaza, the prosecutor stated.
Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab and three members of the family and associates are nonetheless in police custody for questioning, Mr. Ricard stated.
Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab was born in 1997 to a nonreligious household, however he transformed to Islam in 2015 and “in a short time embraced jihadist ideology,” Mr. Ricard stated. In 2018, he was convicted on prices of being a part of a prison conspiracy to arrange a terrorist assault that was not carried out.
On the time, Mr. Ricard stated, investigators decided that Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab had “massively consulted” propaganda movies and paperwork unfold on-line by the Islamic State, and that in 2016 he had expressed the will to hitch the group in Syria or Iraq. Investigators additionally discovered that Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab had linked on-line with different Islamist extremists, together with some who later turned infamous for assaults of their very own.
Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab turned mates on Fb with the person who later murdered an off-duty police officer and his accomplice at their dwelling close to Paris, Mr. Ricard stated, though the 2 males didn’t change any messages. Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab additionally chatted on-line with one of many assailants within the assault that killed a priest in his church in Normandy, Mr. Ricard stated. After his launch from jail in 2020, Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab was additionally in contact with the person who later murdered Samuel Paty, a French historical past instructor.
His launch from jail got here beneath strict situations, Mr. Ricard stated, together with an order to endure psychiatric remedy. He additionally stated that remedy stopped in April 2023, though intelligence providers continued to observe Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab.
Mr. Darmanin, the inside minister, instructed TF1 on Sunday that Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab’s remedy had stopped on the request of “sure medical doctors,” however didn’t elaborate. He argued that safety providers ought to have the ability to overrule medical doctors in sure instances to drive suspected extremists with psychiatric problems — “there are numerous of them,” he stated — to endure remedy.
In October, Mr. Rajabpour-Miyandoab’s mom expressed worries that her son was rising more and more reclusive, however the safety providers had no grounds to deliver prices in opposition to him, Mr. Ricard stated.
“These are the people who’re all the time the toughest to trace,” Laurent Nuñez, the top of the Paris police, instructed BFMTV on Sunday. “As a result of you may have a background of radicalization, and you’ve got these psychiatric problems that muddy the waters and make it more durable for intelligence providers to research.”
