Four days after the resumption of the hearing, postponed because Salah Abdeslam had contracted the Covid, Ali El Haddad Asufi tested positive on Friday evening.
One of the defendants in the trial of the November 13 attacks, who presented symptoms of Covid-19 at the hearing on Friday, tested positive. Ali El Haddad Asufi, one of the 11 defendants appearing detained, was “self-tested” Friday evening which turned out to be positive, indicates the president of the special assize court of Paris, Jean-Louis Périès, in a message sent to the lawyers.
The positivity of this test was confirmed by one of Ali El Haddad Asufi’s lawyers, Me Martin Méchin. His client has yet to undergo a PCR test. Ali El Haddad Asufi, who is not “not vaccinated”, “had symptoms [vendredi] at the hearing” and “was a little isolated in the box, according to Me Méchin. He has always been present, he does not want the hearing to take place without him.
The resumption of the hearing on Tuesday is thus strongly compromised. The health situation had already disrupted the resumption of the trial, in early January after a two-week break: the main defendant, Salah Abdeslam, had contracted Covid-19 in prison at the end of December and was still positive. A counter-expertise having concluded on Monday that Salah Abdeslam was “cured” and “non-contagious”, the hearing resumed on Tuesday with the start of the interrogations of the defendants.