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French journalists don’t know what to make of 35-year-old Abu Zhara from Nancy. For some, he is a hardened jihadist for others, an informer sacrificed by the French domestic intelligence agency &ndash the Direction of the surveillance of the territory (DST). Abu Zhara was arrested in May, 2007 for association with preparing acts of terrorism in France. The affair, according to defence lawyer Frederick Berna, carries far into a zone of shadows. The verdict of his trial in Paris, set for January 22, is eagerly awaited.
According to trial documents, Bouchentouf, held for questioning on May 2, 2007, confessed that he was planning attacks against the American consulate in Luxembourg and the 13th Regiment (paratroopers) at Dieuze.
It was 6am when the agents of the DST and RAID (an elite counter-terrorist unit) knocked on the door of Kamel Bouchentouf, a Nancy delivery man known online as brother Abu Zhara. Also, Abu Zhara had allegedly made contact with the al Qaeda in the Maghreb network. The ex-serviceman says that his admissions were acquired under pressure, and that he had been inserted by the DST into the Islamist network of Abelmalek Droukdal, the leader of al Qaeda in the Maghreb.
But Bouchentouf own version is quite different.
&lsquoAn unstable personality&rsquo
Kamel Bouchentouf cellphone records show that in fact he maintained a close relationship with the DST.
On April 30, 2007, the DST is said to have intercepted a video of Bouchentouf in which he asserts his preparation for attacks.
In a late note to the trial, the DST justifies these contacts with the defendant. The investigation revealed about 30 telephone contacts between Bouchentouf portable and the French agency, during the eight months before his arrest. Kamel Bouchentouf came to the attention of our services, wrote a police commissioner, adding that he displayed a personality sufficiently unstable to require maintaining pressure. Kamel Bouchentouf came to the attention of our services, wrote a police commissioner, adding that he displayed a personality sufficiently unstable to require maintaining pressure. The public prosecutor is asking for seven to eight years of imprisonment for Bouchentouf.
During a house search, the policemen found two gas canisters, an empty extinguisher and documents on manufacturing explosives. The agency baited him with the possibility of getting custody of his daughter in exchange for services he would perform online, such as creating websites and sending emails.
Attorney fights official version
According to defence lawyer Frederick Berna, the DST approached Bouchentouf, a disenchanted Frenchman of Algerian origin, to infiltrate Islamic circles. .
And that’s how Bouchentouf is supposed to have got in contact with Salah Gasmi, the intelligence head of al Qaeda in the Maghreb, formerly known as the GSPC, the Salafist group for proselytising and combat. This request immediately aroused Gasmi suspicions.
In the last correspondence between the two, Bouchentouf ends his message rather cryptically: Would you be kind enough to point out to me the Koranic references on the treating of treason by a Muslim brother towards another brother.
Would the DST have so completely lost control of its recruit, thus creating a potential danger for France? According to a former agent, this is not impossible. In the following days Bouchentouf was arrested. We don&rsquot arrest someone we work with. We don&rsquot arrest someone we work with. Either the individual escaped the agencies, or one of the agencies wanted to go further, or perhaps there was a dysfunction between the services.
Freedom, equality, efficiency
We have no way to check on troubling facts with the DST, says Frederick Berna, who stunned that the inquiry is entrusted to the same agency.
In spite of requests by Bouchentouf lawyers, DST agents were not heard during trial proceedings. Judge Philippe Coirre asked the DST for permission. The intelligence agency refused, stating that the matter was classified as top secret.
The role occupied by the DST in this trial is problematic, according to Ann Guidicelli, head of the Paris-based counselling agency Terrorisc. The problem is that the party responsible for the inquiry is also involved, creating a conflict of interest.
The double function exercised by the DST &ndash in intelligence and as a detective police force &ndash is a feature that has become, since the events of 9/11, a key element in France fight against terrorism.
Since the 80s, France has learned to recognise the terrorism that is born in the Middle East, explained a former DST agent. It developed a legislative structure adapted to terrorism, which allowed it to centralise its work and encouraged communication between magistrates and the agency.
al Qaeda – counter-terrorism – terrorism