A man has denied knowing he was harbouring two Islamic extremists on the run who had carried out the 2015 Paris attacks just days before.
Jawad Bendaoud, an outspoken 31-year-old with a criminal record, is on trial in a Paris court for allegedly helping two of the attackers hide from police when they were the most wanted criminals in France.
“There were signs, ma’am, but I misinterpreted them,” he told the presiding judge on Thursday in his first statements to the court.
Describing himself as loving life, girls, drugs and alcohol, he claimed to have nothing to do with “terrorism” and jihadist ideology.
Bendaoud faces up to six years in prison if convicted.
