(Radio France) The Paris attacks trial on Thursday heard from two police witnesses. The first explained the way in which Islamic State organised its overseas terrorist operations. The second outlined the grisly career of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the Paris killers, himself shot dead by police four days after the November 2015 attacks he helped to mastermind.
Two things were made abundantly clear by Thursday’s evidence before the special criminal court in Paris.
The first is that Islamic State was an extremely well-organised structure. The second is that certain members of the organisation were capable of an indescribable level of cruelty.
The court was shown images of the deliberate burning to death of a captured Jordanian pilot, and we were reminded of the exploits of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, laughingly dragging the bodies of eight victims at high speed in the wake of a powerful vehicle.
