Rabat – French-Moroccan Mostafa Salhane, who helped apprehend the Algerian terrorist behind the 2018 Strasbourg attacks, received during a commemoration ceremony on Wednesday the National Recognition Medal for Victims of Terrorism from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mostafa Salhane, who is the president of the association of victims of the Strasbourg attack, is one of the approximately 200 victims of terrorism who received the presidential medal.
The perpetrator of the Strasbourg attack took the French-Moroccan hostage in his taxi for a quarter of an hour. Thereafter he provided invaluable information to the investigators which led to the terrorist’s arrest.
France published the presidential decree a few days before the European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism, commemorated on March 11. President Macron chaired the ceremony which took place at the Hotel National des Invalides in Paris.
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Mostafa Salhane, and other representatives of victims associations, had the chance to meet the French president and discuss matters related to the victims of terrorist attacks in France.
Speaking with Moroccan state media, Salhane explained that “discussions with the President of the Republic also focused on the importance of State support for these victims as well as the need for more increased mobilization.” In particular, the French-Moroccan stressed the importance of support for schools, “to make young people aware of the danger of radicalization.”
The Strasbourg attack occurred on December 11, 2018, when a man opened fire near the city’s Christmas market, a busy site during the holidays. The terrorist killed five, wounded 11, and then fled the scene in Mostafa Salhane’s taxi.
The European Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Terrorism is an annual event to commemorate the victims of terrorism worldwide. The rememberance day’s establishment followed the Madrid bombings that claimed the lives of 193 people and injured thousands more.
