Paris attack suspect to refuse extradition to France

Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect in the November Paris attacks, is cooperating with police but will refuse extradition to France, his lawyer said on Saturday (March 19).

“He is collaborating with Belgian justice,” Sven Mary told reporters in Brussels. “France wants him to be extradited and I can already announce that we will refuse extradition to France.”

Abdeslam was captured after a shootout in Brussels on Friday (March 18). He was formally charged on Saturday with involvement in terrorist murder along with a second man detained with him the previous day, Belgian prosecutors said.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel admitted on Saturday that his extradition to France could take “several weeks”.

The second man was identified as Monir Ahmed Alaaj alias Amine Choukri — both names that investigators have said appear on fake documents. A third man detained on Friday in the same house, named as Abid A., was charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation and aiding and abetting criminals.

A woman detainee, Djemila M., was charged with aiding and abetting but released, the prosecutors said in a statement. A second woman was released without charge.