(France 24) The deadly Paris attacks of November 13, 2015, led to a sea change in France’s counter-terrorism strategy. A decade later, there is a larger focus on preventing radicalisation and the mechanisms behind it are better understood. But today the threat has diversified beyond Islamist extremism, and online social networks are speeding up the recruitment process.
“Very, very quickly, I was approached by a self-proclaimed imam. He was more used to selling weapons and drugs, but he spoke Arabic well, knew the sacred texts of the Quran and had a certain charisma, so he styled himself as an [imam] in the prison yard.”
When a radical Islamist recruiter targeted Karim Mokhtari in prison, he knew all the right buttons to press.
