A court in France has ruled that an Islamic State adherent responsible for one of the most devastating terror attacks in Europe should receive compensation for a breach of privacy.
The Versailles Administrative Court determined the French government should pay the convicted terrorist 500 Euros ($560) for monitoring his prison cell 24 hours a day.
The convicted terrorist expressed anger when a conservative MP described the details of his new life behind bars.
Salah Abdeslam, 29, is the country’s most watched prisoner. He is facing multiple life sentences for organizing the November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris that killed over 130 people. More than 410 others were wounded, some of whom remain disabled for life.
During the attack, ISIS terrorists committed suicide bombings outside a football match, while others brandishing Kalashnikovs went on a rampage at cafes and restaurants before performing a mass shooting at the Bataclan theater, where they killed 89 people.
Abdeslam was among the three radical jihadists, including his brother Brahim Abdeslam and Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who planned and execute the terror attacks.
Abdeslam, a French national, is the only surviving member of his group after he abandoned his mission to detonate his explosive vest at France’s national stadium before going on the run. He was arrested following a shoot-out with police in Brussels.
The terror convict, who was given solitary confinement, has been the subject of privacy debates in France. Following his incarceration, the Versailles-based court ruled that those monitoring him had gone too far by keeping him on surveillance in captivity. Cameras set up to monitor his high security prison cell in the Fleury-Mérogis prison were ruled illegal in March 2017, according to the Mirror.
France has strict privacy laws, and courts often rule in favor of prisoners who argue that they had their privacy violated.
At the time, the convicted terrorist expressed anger when a conservative MP described the details of his new life behind bars. Despite being locked in solitary confinement, his “cell” could be better described as a small apartment with multiple rooms including luxuries like a TV, a kitchen, and a rowing machine for him to exercise.
Abdeslam sued for invasion of privacy and won. He demanded that he be paid for “symbolic damages” plus interest and legal fees. The ISIS terrorist’s lawyer, Frank Berton, argued to the court that the corrections officers had no right to watch him for so long as it “breached his right to a private life.” The claim lead public critics on social media to question France’s privacy laws, and ask why Abdeslam retained a right to privacy despite being incarcerated for his actions.
The lawyer confirmed in a newly published book by French journalist Elsa Vigoureux that the French court ordered that the terrorist be compensated 500 Euros.
Despite his role in the terror attacks, Abdeslam is without remorse. Newsweek reports that in leaked letters, the fanatic stated he was “not ashamed” for participating in the massacre.
Ian Miles Cheong is the managing editor of Human Events
