Austria to extradite Pakistani over Paris attack links

People light candles in tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks, outside the French embassy in Berlin. Photo: LUKAS SCHULZE

People light candles in tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks, outside the French embassy in Berlin. Photo: LUKAS SCHULZE

Published Jul 27, 2016

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Vienna - A Pakistani man suspected of links to the jihadists who killed 130 people in Paris in November will be extradited to France, an Austrian court spokesman said on Wednesday.

He and an Algerian man came into contact with the Paris attackers in Austria, Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten reported after the men were arrested in a refugee centre in the city of Salzburg last December.

The Algerian man would also be extradited following a ruling by a court in Salzburg, news agency Austria Presse Agentur reported, but no one at that court was available for comment.

French newspaper Le Monde has reported that the two men travelled together from Syria to the Greek island of Leros with the two Iraqi brothers who blew themselves up near the Stade de France national stadium outside Paris on Nov. 13.

“The extradition of the Pakistani man was declared admissible,” a spokesman for a regional court in the Austrian city of Linz said, declining to give any further details.

The two men were first arrested on Leros during a passport check on Oct. 3, as one of them could not speak Arabic very well and the other was unable to describe Aleppo, which was cited as his birthplace on his passport, the Le Parisien paper has said.

Both men were released three weeks later and went to Austria, where they were arrested again.

Reuters

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