HIBAPRESS
French judicial authorities have ordered the imprisonment of a 27-year-old Algerian youth after he was charged with the assassination of a Christian Iraqi refugee in the city of Lyon last September, in a crime described as "horrifying and brutal," which was carried out during a live broadcast on the "TikTok" application.
Heavy charges
The accused, named Sabri B., faces formal charges of premeditated murder and belonging to a terrorist organization, and was imprisoned in the city of Meaux, east of Paris, yesterday evening, Tuesday, according to the newspaper Le Parisien. Investigations indicate the possibility of links with the “ISIS” organization, after his connection to both Syria and Algeria was revealed. The details of the crime date back to the evening of September 10, when the victim, Ashur Sernaya, 45 years old, who converted to Christianity of the Assyrian-Chaldean sect, was sitting in a wheelchair and broadcasting a live video lasting more than five hours via "TikTok", before being surprised by the attacker attacking him with a large "machete" knife, and slaughtering him in front of the camera in a shocking scene witnessed by hundreds of followers at the moment it happened. Sernaya, who had obtained political asylum in France since 2014, had fled Iraq after receiving threats from extremist groups that demanded that he convert to Islam or face death, according to his sister. Repeated threats online Investigations also revealed that the victim received repeated threats online in recent months from extremist accounts of a fundamentalist religious nature. The mobile phone data of the Algerian accused showed his presence at the scene of the crime between 9:15 pm and 10:50 pm, the time during which eyewitnesses noticed him wandering suspiciously before fleeing the scene after the crime. After a chase that lasted for weeks, the police were able to arrest him in southern Italy on October 2, after he fled there and took refuge with one of his Algerian citizens. During his interrogation before the investigating judge, the accused denied his involvement in the crime, claiming that he "only wants to return to his job as an Uber driver," while sources close to the case described his behavior as "unstable," pointing out that he suffers from psychological disorders and is known for his addiction to smoking hashish.
