World
Five jihadists found guilty of holding French journalists hostage
Five jihadists have been found guilty of holding French journalists captive in Syria for the terror group Islamic State.
One of the guilty, Mehdi Nemmouche, 39, has been described by the prosecution as “one of the most perverse and cruel jihadists of the past 10 years” with a “total absence of empathy and remorse.”
“Yes, I was a terrorist, and I will never apologise for it,” Nemmouche told the court in France hours before the verdict was due, while denying he held the men captive.
“I don’t regret a day, an hour, or an act,” he added.
Nemmouche was sentenced to life in prison, and will serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars. Abdelmalek Tanem was given 22 years and Kais Al Abdullah was sentenced to 20 years.
Meanwhile, Oussama Atar and Salim Benghalem, who are both referred to as integral figures in the Islamic State‘s operations and believed to be dead were sentenced to life in absentia.
The trial in Paris heard that journalists Didier Francois, Edouard Elias, Nicolas Henin, and Pierre Torres were terrorised during their 10 months in captivity between June 2013 and April 2014.
Released French hostage Didier Francois, left, is welcomed by his family in 2014. File pic: AP
The four spoke of relentless physical and psychological torture at the hands of ISIS.
During their imprisonment, they were forced to watch the executions of other captives and endure beatings while surrounded by the screams of fellow detainees.
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‘They did plenty of mock executions’
Nicolas Henin was snatched in the Syrian city of Raqqa with photographer Pierre Torres in 2013.
He told Sky News he was just “taken off the streets”.
During his time in captivity, he met American journalist James Foley and British aid worker David Haines, both of whom were later murdered by the notorious British ISIS militants “the Beatles”.
“We were a total of 24. Nineteen men held in one cell and five women in another one…and the plan was to start everything with an execution,” he says.
Released hostages Didier Francois, left, and Edouard Elias, right, leave a local hospital after a medical check-up in 2014. File pic: AP
He remembers the first person executed on the day they arrived was a Russian man, but the murders would continue.
At times, their captors also carried out mock executions, dragging their terrified prisoners out for fake beheadings or leaving them in the boiling sun for hours during mock crucifixions.
“All our captors treated us badly. It is not only about beatings or torture; to keep someone captured in the dark sometimes blindfolded is enough,” Mr Henin said.
Throughout the trial, Nemmouche has always denied being their jailer, but the four former hostages recognised him.
Edouard Elias said he remembers him tormenting them for hours with constant chatter and singing French songs.
Former president of France, Francois Hollande, speaks as the released French hostages arrive home in 2014. File pic: AP
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Nicolas Henin will never forget his face or his manner.
“[He’s] sadistic, narcissistic, and I would say ‘gamer’ because for him nothing is serious. Everything is a game. He wants to win everything…he plays with the court,” he said.
A court sketch shows the lawyers (bottom) and the defendants (top). Pic: Benoit Peyrucq/AFP/Getty
Nemmouche is already serving a life sentence for the fatal attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014.
He carried out the killings for ISIS a few weeks after the French journalists were released.
“This man, who fancies himself intelligent, is devoid of any human sentiment,” Prosecutor Benjamin Chambre said, describing him as a “real sociopath”.
It’s more than a decade since the journalists spent months witnessing and enduring the darkest and cruellest acts of humanity.
Nicolas Henin waits to hear the sentencing of the men who held him hostage in Syria
Asked how he managed to survive, Nicolas Henin paid tribute to his fellow hostages David Haines and James Foley who he says supported him mentally while he was detained.
Ahead of the verdict, he called for sentences that reflected the gravity of the crimes inflicted on them.
And what of the men who seemingly take joy in inflicting such pain and suffering – are they evil?
That’s what they need us to believe, he explains.
“It’s part of the game of terrorists to terrorise people. They need us to believe that they are not human.
“We have to look for the humanity still in them to prevent ourselves being totally petrified by fear facing them,” Mr Henin adds, refusing to be cowed.
“I prevent myself from feeling any hatred against them as much as any fear,” he says.