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PARIS: A Paris court on Thursday sentenced a Pakistani man to 30 years in jail for attempting to murder two people outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in 2020 with a meat cleaver.
When he carried out the attack, 29-year-old Zaheer Mahmood wrongly believed the satirical newspaper was still based in the building, which was targeted by Islamists a decade ago for publishing cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.
In fact, Charlie Hebdo had moved in the wake of the storming of its offices by two Al-Qaeda-linked masked gunmen, who killed 12 people including eight of the paper’s editorial staff.
The killings in January 2015 shocked France and triggered a fierce debate about freedom of expression and religion, fueling an outpouring of sympathy in France expressed in a wave of “Je Suis Charlie” (“I Am Charlie“) solidarity.
Originally from rural Pakistan, Mahmood arrived in France illegally in the summer of 2019.
The court had earlier heard how Mahmood was influenced by radical Pakistani preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who had called for the beheading of blasphemers.
Mahmood was convicted of attempted murder and terrorist conspiracy and he will be banned from France when his sentence is served.
The 2015 bloodshed, which included a separate but linked hostage-taking that claimed another four lives at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris, marked the start of a dark period for France.
In the years that followed extremists inspired by Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group repeatedly mounted attacks, setting the country on edge and inflaming religious tensions.
To mark the opening of the trial into the 2015 massacre, Charlie Hebdo republished its cartoons of Mohammed on September 2, 2020.
Later that month, urged by the extremist preacher to “avenge the Prophet,” Mahmood arrived in front of Charlie Hebdo’s former address.
Armed with a butcher’s cleaver, he gravely wounded two employees of the Premieres Lignes news agency.
Throughout the trial, his defense argued that his actions were the result of a profound disconnect he felt from France, given his upbringing in the fervently Muslim Pakistan countryside.
“In his head he had never left Pakistan,” Mahmood’s defense lawyer Alberic de Gayardon said on Wednesday, conceding that “each of his blows aimed to kill.”
“He does not speak French, he lives with Pakistanis, he works for Pakistanis,” Gayardon added.
Charlie Hebdo’s decision in 2020 to republish the Mohammed lampoons triggered a wave of angry demonstrations in Pakistan, where blasphemy is punishable by death.
Five other Pakistani men, some of whom were minors at the time, were on trial alongside Mahmood on terrorist conspiracy charges for having supported and encouraged his actions.
The French capital’s special court for minors handed Mahmood’s co-defendants sentences of between three and 12 years.
None of the six in the dock reacted to the verdict.
Both victims were present at the sentencing, but did not wish to comment on the trial’s outcome.
Earlier in the trial one of the two, alias Paul, told the court of the long rehabilitation he undertook after his near-death experience.
“It broke something within me,” the 37-year-old said.
Neither he nor the other victim, named only as Helene, 32, have accepted Mahmood’s pleas for forgiveness.
Mahmood’s lawyers have yet to indicate whether their client will appeal the verdict.

DUBAI: Savvy logistics investments and business-friendly policies are transforming ��������Ƶ into a global trade hub, a Davos panel was told on Thursday.

Nouf Al-Fares, assistant deputy minister at the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services; and Ehab Aziz, chief financial officer of Agility, were speaking at Saudi House during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.

The panel highlighted the Kingdom’s ambitious logistics and investment targets, which are being met partly through international deals.

Al-Fares said: “A strategy was announced in mid 2021 by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At the beginning I thought it to be intimidating having to raise SR1 trillion ($266 billion) in investments, but we are already halfway there through various established projects like the Riyadh Metro, and the new expansions of seaports and airports.

“We are now in motion to open a metro in Jeddah as well.”

The Kingdom’s shifting policies on foreign investment are also playing a role in surging growth, Al-Fares added.

Foreign investors are now able to claim 100-percent ownership of their Saudi-based businesses — a crucial policy in attracting investment.

“International companies are increasingly seeing the value of investing in ��������Ƶ,” the assistant deputy minister said.

“Chinese companies have already entered the Saudi market, with investments so far reaching over SR1 billion, and there are still more incoming projects.”

��������Ƶ is preparing to open five new airports in the coming years that will further boost the Kingdom’s connectivity and infrastructure, she added.

“This aligns with our vision and position to being the gateway to Asia, Africa and Europe. We are also preparing projects to back the tourism sector as we are witnessing a surge in numbers of tourists, not including the religious ones.

“A lot of programs and funds that have been developed by our government are geared at attracting the youth, and those leaders with an appetite for change. We are excited for the upcoming completion of projects like the railway, which is to be completed within four years.

“The railway will connect the Kingdom to its GCC neighbors, namely Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Doha.

Aziz praised the Saudi government’s proactive role in fostering a business-friendly environment.

He highlighted several schemes that have attracted domestic and foreign investment, particularly since the launch of Vision 2030.

The chief financial officer shared the details of his own company’s development in ��������Ƶ.

Agility, a logistics and supply chain leader, has been in operations for more than two decades, beginning as a Kuwaiti public company that constructed warehouses.

“Since its privatization Agility has become a global operator,” Aziz said.

“Today, the company has $11 billion worth of assets spread across various businesses. We also own one of the largest aviation companies that operates within 250 countries.”

A conviction that the Kingdom “would be the place to be in the future” led the company into a Saudi expansion, Aziz said, adding: “And so we have so far not been proved wrong.”

He said: “The story in Saudi is getting better and better over time. It is rare to find a country with a clear vision that is tangible with an educated government.

“The government incentivizing its employees through bonuses is also a new, atypical characteristic. All the infrastructure projects are very important but so is the mindset and attitude.

“And all that has been extremely positive. It has gotten to a level where you feel like you can completely count on the government; this increases your confidence in investing more in the country.”

Al-Fares and Aziz highlighted their optimism over the future of investment in the Kingdom’s transport and logistics sector.

The industry is poised for continued growth thanks to the government’s clear vision and investments that are providing a solid foundation for future development, they said.

“I think 2030 is carrying a lot and we are very optimistic,” Al-Fares added.