Paris trial begins for alleged Islamist terror cell founder

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The alleged founder of a terror cell acknowledged on the opening day of his trial in Paris on Thursday that he wrote the group's charter. Safe Bourada, a previously convicted Islamist militant and dual French-Algerian citizen, is accused of having written the charter for the Ansar al-Fath Islamist group following his release from a French prison in 2003. He faces charges of "financing terrorism" and "criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking," a blanket charge often used in French terror cases. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Bourada, 38, told the court Thursday, "The text is mine. If I had had the occasion, the means (and) the strength, I would have carried it out." "Sadly, from my point of view, it didn't see the light of day," said Bourada.