A 20-year-old Afghan man suspected of having ties to a branch of the Islamic State group has been arrested in France, anti-terrorism prosecutors announced on Saturday, November 1. According to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), he has been charged with participation in a terrorist criminal organization and financing a terrorist enterprise.
The suspect was taken into custody in Lyon last week and placed in pre-trial detention. The anti-terrorism unit stated that he “clearly adheres to jihadist ideology” and is believed to have been in contact with IS-K (Islamic State in Khorasan). PNAT said he is accused of “sending money” and assisting in translating and spreading “propaganda for this terrorist organization.”
The Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), which represents the group’s Afghan branch, also operates in Pakistan and several former Soviet states in Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan. The organization has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, including the March 2024 assault on a Moscow concert hall that killed 150 people.
According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the Afghan national, who arrived in France several years ago, was detained by officers from the DGSI domestic intelligence agency while already being held in an administrative detention center in Lyon. Le Parisien reported that the suspect, who was already under investigation for glorifying terrorism, had been editing and circulating jihadist propaganda on TikTok and Snapchat.
France has faced multiple Islamist attacks over the past decade, frequently carried out by individuals inspired by Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group.
