Accused terrorist Yassine Atar's family says his only crime is being related to his brother
Yassine Atar faces a life sentence for his suspected role in providing a hideout for the terrorists who killed 131 people in the November 2015 attacks in Paris. Along with close family members, he took the stand Tuesday and Wednesday, arguing he was only a suspect because his brother, Oussama Atar, was the alleged mastermind behind the attacks.
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Atar talks a lot. And very quickly. He has answers for everything.
He and and 19 other men, including his brother, Oussama, are being tried in Paris for their alleged complicity in the 2015 attacks.
Belgian police testified to Yassine Atar's radicalisation, which he denied on the stand.
Though some of the questions posed to him on Tuesday were not easy.
Atar was asked to explain SMS messages in which he instructs family members not to celebrate the New Year because it is "only for infidels", or in which he described his native Belgium as "a shit country for Muslims".
In other messages he said he did not want his wife treated by a male gynecologist, and she was not to swim in the local pool.
"I sent my wife thousands of messages," he retorted. "You have selected a few from here and there. And you have taken them out of context."
He said the messages presented in court do not prove he is a radical Islamist: "I may have said a few dubious things, that's possible. But I am not the fundamentalist, radicalised Islamist you are making me out to be. That I reject."
Atar methodically rejected each accusation brought against him, and the questions he could not answer, he said he forgot.
Supporters
On Wednesday the hearing opened with testimony from Atar's sister, Iman.
She was sharp and precise: her brother was the innocent victim of Belgian police incompetence.
"They did everything they could to make him look guilty. But, if that is the case, why is he not being tried in Belgium for the 2016 Brussels attacks – all part of the same terrorist effort, with the same people involved?" she asked, referring to a trial that will open in Belgium after the end of the Paris trial.
Atar is not one of the ten suspects to be tried in that case.
He finds himself among the Paris accused, his sister claims, because of the actions of close relatives, notably his older brother Oussama and his cousins, Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui.
"He's the brother of, the cousin of, therefore he must be guilty;" Iman Atar said of her brother. "It's nonsense."
Oussama Atar, who is believed to be dead, is also on trial in Paris, suspected of having masterminded the Paris attacks from Syria. The El Bakraoui brothers blew themselves up in the 2016 Brussels bombings, killing 31 people.
Iman Atar is sure that her brother Yassine was never radicalised.
"It's very simple," she assured the court. "He was more interested in his appearance than in religion. He liked to dress well, look well, live well. He liked going out.
She said "efforts to turn him into an extremist are ridiculous", adding that "he didn't even say his prayers regularly. He was just an ordinary guy."
Character witness
The court then heard from Moustapha Benhattal, Yassine Atar's uncle.
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't absolutely sure he is innocent," the talkative man assured the hearing.
"My nephew is the victim of a series of stupidities perpetrated by the Belgian police. And that police action was driven by political decisions. They wanted to show the French that Brussels was on top of the case. Nonsense."
"Yassine Atar has been the target of police pressure which amounts to nothing less than attempted murder."
The trial continues.
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