Paris Attacks Suspect Is A Little Jerk Says Own Belgian Lawyer

Salah Abdeslam has been charged by French authorities over November's Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.

The 26-year-old French national of Moroccan origin, who was earlier extradited from Belgium, was charged with terrorist conspiracy, murder and possession of explosives and weapons, according to a statement from France's public prosecutor. Following a hearing with a judge he was placed in custody.

Abdeslam was seized on March 18 in the troubled Brussels district of Molenbeek, a neighbourhood home to a large, impoverished Muslim minority population. He was arrested for his suspected role in the Paris attacks, which claimed 130 lives, but his capture also preceded - and potentially inspired - a grim set of bombings in Brussels on March 22. Both assaults were believed to have been carried out by proxies of Islamic State.

In an interview with the French daily Liberation, Sven Mary, Abdeslam's Belgian lawyer, heaped opprobrium on his departing client, whom Mary described as having "the intelligence of an empty ashtray - an abysmal emptiness".

Mary, who has controversially represented other Belgian extremists in the past, said Abdeslam's radicalisation likely happened online. He said the young extremist had scant knowledge of Islam. "I asked him if he had read the Koran, which I did, and he said he had read his interpretation on the internet," the lawyer said.

Mary referred to Abdeslam in French as a "petit con" - a phrase that could be translated as "little jerk" or asshole - who was "more a follower than a leader" among "Molenbeek's little delinquents". He said Abdeslam "is the perfect example of the GTA generation who thinks he lives in a video game". (GTA stands for Grand Theft Auto, a popular gaming franchise that enables players to embark on deadly rampages and killing sprees in a virtual city.)

This characterisation of the terrorist suspect sketched by his lawyer fits in with pre-existing analysis by European counter-terrorism officials, who see the current wave of violent extremists emerging not from a position of ideological fervour, but criminality and anti-social behaviour.

A report by a Brussels think tank observed in March how Abdeslam and his peers' "acquaintance with religious thought is undoubtedly more shallow and superficial than their predecessors', as is their acquaintance with international politics". It added: "Injustice was often a starting point with their predecessors' journey towards extremism and terrorism. This has now largely been overshadowed by personal estrangement and motives as the primary engines of their journey."

The study noted the distinction between an earlier generation of "radical Islamists" and the current crop of "Their revolt from society manifested itself through petty crime and delinquency," Belgian counter-terrorism official Alain Grignard wrote in an essay. "Many are essentially part of street gangs. What the Islamic State brought in its wake was a new strain of Islam which legitimised their radical approach."