VÉNISSIEUX, France — The man who the authorities say decapitated his boss before setting off an explosion at an American-owned chemical plant near Lyon first came to the attention of the French intelligence services at least nine years ago, after he became part of the circle of a radical Islamist.
The man, Yassine Salhi, 35, who was caught during the attack on Friday, and the Islamist, Frédéric Jean Salvi, both spent time in the small town of Pontarlier, near the Swiss border.
Mr. Salvi converted to Islam in prison and became known as “Grand Ali.” By 2008, it seems, he left France, but surfaced in connection with plans to carry out a terrorist attack in Indonesia in 2010. He has since slipped through a police dragnet and disappeared, with an Interpol arrest warrant for him, according to news reports.
While the depth of the two men’s association remains unclear, it appears to have contributed to Mr. Salhi’s radicalization and was appears to have been enough for the French security services to place him in 2006 on a list of potential security threats.
Mr. Salhi grew up in Pontarlier, while Mr. Salvi seems to have arrived there sometime after 2001, when he got out of prison in the nearby town of Besançon. In prison, Mr. Salvi had converted to Islam. It is unclear when the two men first met, but some reports put it as early as 2004. The two men were almost the same age. But while Mr. Salhi is remembered by people in Pontarlier as a quiet adolescent, Mr. Salvi was brash, even rude, said Amar Remimi, 48, the treasurer of the Philippe Grenier mosque association in Pontarlier.
“One day he came to the mosque and he had a very weird attitude,” Mr. Remimi recalled. “The imam was preaching. Ali got into the mosque, sat, then after a few minutes stood up and started criticizing the imam while he was preaching. He ordered the imam to stop, said his sermons were wrong.”
“So I stood up and asked him to leave the mosque,” he added. “Who was he to tell an imam he was wrong? Plus, we don’t want radical Muslims here, period.”
In contrast, Mr. Remimi remembered teaching Arabic to Mr. Salhi when he was 15 or 16, saying he was “quiet” and “studious” and wanted to learn because of his family’s origins. Mr. Salhi’s father, who died when the youth was about 16, was Algerian and his mother is Moroccan.
“He already spoke some Arabic in dialect, but he could barely read it when he started the classes,” Mr. Remimi said.
“At the end of the three years, he could read and write,” he added. “You know, he was young at that time. There wasn’t the Internet. There weren’t all those radical movements. I wasn’t worried about the kids I was teaching, at all.”
Another local Muslim leader, Nasser Benyahia, who leads the Muslim association affiliated with the Philippe Grenier mosque in Pontarlier, described Mr. Salhi as a normal child who played football and had no particular interest in Islam.
At the time, children “spoke more about football than Al Qaeda, and I didn’t see any sign of radicalization in him,” he said.
That appeared to change when Mr. Salvi arrived. In addition to being obstreperous, Mr. Salvi cut an impressive figure, tall, blond and domineering, according to news articles written a few years later when he was implicated in the attempted attack in Indonesia.
Mr. Salvi appears to have gone back and forth between Pontarlier and Besançon, and so did Mr. Salhi, though how much time they spent together is unknown.
Mr. Salhi was dropped from the security watch list at a time when the French government under President Nicolas Sarkozy was merging two intelligence divisions that had some overlapping responsibility for domestic terrorist threats.
The merger appears to have resulted in surveillance also slackening on Mohammed Merah, who in 2012 killed seven people in Toulouse, including two French soldiers, and five people at a Jewish school.
While there was considerable criticism when it emerged that Mr. Merah had slipped through the cracks, so far the tone has been more muted about Mr. Salhi. That may be in part because he had no criminal record and was not known to have sought to go abroad to fight on behalf of Islamic extremists.
“There’s a number of people you have to do surveillance on,” said a French official familiar with Mr. Salhi’s case who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
“That was the time the domestic intelligence agencies merged, and people have pointed to the same period for the absence of follow-up in the case in Toulouse, so maybe there were a number of cases in that period that were not treated carefully enough,” the official said.
More recently, Mr. Salhi appears to have again gained a reputation for being a soft-spoken, reserved person.
Neighbors described him that way, and so did the family of Hervé Cornara, 54, who was Mr. Salhi’s boss at Colicom/ATC until Friday, when Mr. Salhi beheaded him.
Interviewed by the French television channel TF1, Kevin Cornara, the son of Mr. Cornara who also worked for Colicom/ATC, said of Mr. Salhi: “He was so nice, always smiling, very friendly, very polite.”
“I did not see anything coming,” he said.
Correction: June 28, 2015
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly in one instance to the man described in news articles as cutting an impressive figure, tall, blond and domineering. He was Frédéric Jean Salvi, not Yassine Salhi.
Source: NYTIMES
The man, Yassine Salhi, 35, who was caught during the attack on Friday, and the Islamist, Frédéric Jean Salvi, both spent time in the small town of Pontarlier, near the Swiss border.
Mr. Salvi converted to Islam in prison and became known as “Grand Ali.” By 2008, it seems, he left France, but surfaced in connection with plans to carry out a terrorist attack in Indonesia in 2010. He has since slipped through a police dragnet and disappeared, with an Interpol arrest warrant for him, according to news reports.
While the depth of the two men’s association remains unclear, it appears to have contributed to Mr. Salhi’s radicalization and was appears to have been enough for the French security services to place him in 2006 on a list of potential security threats.
Mr. Salhi grew up in Pontarlier, while Mr. Salvi seems to have arrived there sometime after 2001, when he got out of prison in the nearby town of Besançon. In prison, Mr. Salvi had converted to Islam. It is unclear when the two men first met, but some reports put it as early as 2004. The two men were almost the same age. But while Mr. Salhi is remembered by people in Pontarlier as a quiet adolescent, Mr. Salvi was brash, even rude, said Amar Remimi, 48, the treasurer of the Philippe Grenier mosque association in Pontarlier.
“One day he came to the mosque and he had a very weird attitude,” Mr. Remimi recalled. “The imam was preaching. Ali got into the mosque, sat, then after a few minutes stood up and started criticizing the imam while he was preaching. He ordered the imam to stop, said his sermons were wrong.”
“So I stood up and asked him to leave the mosque,” he added. “Who was he to tell an imam he was wrong? Plus, we don’t want radical Muslims here, period.”
In contrast, Mr. Remimi remembered teaching Arabic to Mr. Salhi when he was 15 or 16, saying he was “quiet” and “studious” and wanted to learn because of his family’s origins. Mr. Salhi’s father, who died when the youth was about 16, was Algerian and his mother is Moroccan.
“He already spoke some Arabic in dialect, but he could barely read it when he started the classes,” Mr. Remimi said.
“At the end of the three years, he could read and write,” he added. “You know, he was young at that time. There wasn’t the Internet. There weren’t all those radical movements. I wasn’t worried about the kids I was teaching, at all.”
Another local Muslim leader, Nasser Benyahia, who leads the Muslim association affiliated with the Philippe Grenier mosque in Pontarlier, described Mr. Salhi as a normal child who played football and had no particular interest in Islam.
At the time, children “spoke more about football than Al Qaeda, and I didn’t see any sign of radicalization in him,” he said.
That appeared to change when Mr. Salvi arrived. In addition to being obstreperous, Mr. Salvi cut an impressive figure, tall, blond and domineering, according to news articles written a few years later when he was implicated in the attempted attack in Indonesia.
Mr. Salvi appears to have gone back and forth between Pontarlier and Besançon, and so did Mr. Salhi, though how much time they spent together is unknown.
Mr. Salhi was dropped from the security watch list at a time when the French government under President Nicolas Sarkozy was merging two intelligence divisions that had some overlapping responsibility for domestic terrorist threats.
The merger appears to have resulted in surveillance also slackening on Mohammed Merah, who in 2012 killed seven people in Toulouse, including two French soldiers, and five people at a Jewish school.
While there was considerable criticism when it emerged that Mr. Merah had slipped through the cracks, so far the tone has been more muted about Mr. Salhi. That may be in part because he had no criminal record and was not known to have sought to go abroad to fight on behalf of Islamic extremists.
“There’s a number of people you have to do surveillance on,” said a French official familiar with Mr. Salhi’s case who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
“That was the time the domestic intelligence agencies merged, and people have pointed to the same period for the absence of follow-up in the case in Toulouse, so maybe there were a number of cases in that period that were not treated carefully enough,” the official said.
More recently, Mr. Salhi appears to have again gained a reputation for being a soft-spoken, reserved person.
Neighbors described him that way, and so did the family of Hervé Cornara, 54, who was Mr. Salhi’s boss at Colicom/ATC until Friday, when Mr. Salhi beheaded him.
Interviewed by the French television channel TF1, Kevin Cornara, the son of Mr. Cornara who also worked for Colicom/ATC, said of Mr. Salhi: “He was so nice, always smiling, very friendly, very polite.”
“I did not see anything coming,” he said.
Correction: June 28, 2015
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly in one instance to the man described in news articles as cutting an impressive figure, tall, blond and domineering. He was Frédéric Jean Salvi, not Yassine Salhi.
Source: NYTIMES
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