France Jails Egyptian Machete Attacker for 30 Years

World

June 25th, 5:42am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Journalists stand in front of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

A French court on Thursday jailed for 30 years an Egyptian man who attacked soldiers with machetes outside the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris. Judges issued a sentence in line with anti-terror prosecutors' demands for Abdalla El Hamahmi, 33, who did not react from behind his coronavirus mask as it was read out to him via an interpreter. A married father, Hamahmi rushed at a group of soldiers patrolling the Louvre area early on February 3, 2017, armed with a machete in each hand and wearing a t-shirt with a skull motif. He wounded one soldier on the scalp before himself being severely wounded when the patrol opened fire. He insisted throughout the trial that he had planned to protest against French policy in Syria by destroying art masterpieces inside the Louvre museum, which houses thousands of works including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Hamahmi claimed to have been surprised to encounter soldiers, who have patrolled central Paris since a wave of terrorist attacks that killed more than 250 in France from 2015. He said that he attacked them "as a reflex", saying he was acting "like a robot". During the trial, Hamahmi attempted to deny the authenticity of a video in which he swore allegiance to ISIS. But he later admitted that he tried to join the terrorist group in the Middle East before turning his sights on France.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3046226/france-jails-egyptian-machete-attacker-30-years