Terror convict Salah Abdeslam transferred to Belgian prison
Salah Abdeslam has been taken out of his prison cell in the French department Essonne (near Paris) to be transferred to Belgium for his next trial. In Belgium, he is facing fresh charges for his role in the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport and in the Maalbeek metro station in March 2016.
Abdeslam is the only surviving member of the terrorist team responsible for the terrorist rage in Paris in November 2015, which left 130 people dead. He was given a life-long prison sentence without the possibility of an early release. Abdeslam recently decided not to appeal against his sentence.
However, Abdeslam, a Moroccan Belgian who grew up in Molenbeek, is also facing charges in another trial, i.e. one on the Belgian terrorist attacks in the spring of 2016. The attacks in Zaventem and Maalbeek left 32 people dead and several heavily injured. The trial will kick off on 12 September and will be the biggest ever held in Belgium. It is expected to last 9 months.
Abdeslam left the French prison of Fleury-Mérogis in Essonne to be transferred to Belgium, reliable sources said. "For security reasons, it will not be revealed to which Belgian location he will be taken", Kathleen Van De Vijver of the Belgian Prison Department said this morning. At a later stage, it turned out Abdeslam was taken to a cell in Ittre (Walloon Brabant).