Thalys Train Attack Trial: Family Seeks Leniency for Moroccan Gunman

In 2015, at the time of the Thalys attack, Ayoub El Khazzani, who had opened fire inside the train, was only 26 years old. He is accused of "attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and "criminal terrorist conspiracy." According to the conclusions of the investigation conducted at the time of the events, this Moroccan citizen was acting on the instructions of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the coordinator of the terrorist cell that struck France and Belgium in 2015 and 2016. Despite the many reactions condemning the young man’s act, his family describes a candid man who could not harm anyone, reports 20minutes.fr.

In the dock of the assize court, Zahra A., his mother, is surprised to hear that her son was able to shoot at a man. "He shot? But he told me he couldn’t shoot..." The 62-year-old mother insists that she was unaware that a Thalys passenger had been seriously injured by her son on August 21, 2015. After apologizing to the train passengers, she asks that justice be "lenient" with the 31-year-old jihadist on trial for the past eleven days, because "there was no death," and that he "regrets" his gesture.

According to his relatives, Ayoub El Khazzani is an ordinary young man. He was born in Morocco and lived there until he was 18 years old. In 2007, he went to live in Spain with his parents and five brothers and sisters. Salma, his 22-year-old sister, speaks of her brother as a "nice boy" who "worked a lot." She does not understand how and why he was drawn into this kind of situation. "We were raised with the aim of doing good to others. He would sometimes get angry but his interior was very pure. He was never aggressive," she says very moved.

Another of his sisters, Oumaima, 23 years old, assures that they grew up in an atmosphere of peace and love and that nothing could justify what her brother is accused of. "In Spain, everything was normal, we were a united family, thank God. There was love, warmth within the siblings." She evokes the memory of a brother who was "kind" and had a "clean heart," even though Ayoub El Khazzani had already had problems with the Spanish justice system, reports 20minutes.fr.

Despite the portrait painted by his family, the Spanish authorities report that the accused and his brother Imram were known for calling for jihad in Syria among the faithful of the Taqwa mosque. But the mother of the family swears that her son did nothing of the kind. According to Oumaima, his sister, he had never mentioned his plan to go to Syria to wage jihad in front of her. "If I had heard it, I would not have let him go," she said.

Like their mother and her sister Salma, she in turn apologized to the court and the victims on board the train, before asking the court for leniency towards her brother. "He’s my brother. Through our mistakes we learn, we all make mistakes and sins, we all deserve a second chance in our lives."