×

Côte d’Ivoire Hands Down Four Life Terms For 2016 Jihadist Attack

    Advertisement   A court in Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday handed down life terms to four men convicted of abetting a jihadist attack on … Continue reading Côte d’Ivoire Hands Down Four Life Terms For 2016 Jihadist Attack


Four defendants linked with the Grand Bassam attack Kounta Sidi Mohamed (CL), Cisse Hantao Ag Mohamed (CR), Cisse Mohamed (R) and Barry Hassan (L) sit in the box of the accused during their trial at the criminal court of Abidjan on December 22, 2022. – An Ivory Coast prosecutor on December 21, 2022 urged life in jail for four suspects over one of West Africa’s bloodiest jihadist attacks — a 2016 machine-gun assault on a beach resort that killed 19. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP)
Four defendants linked with the Grand Bassam attack Kounta Sidi Mohamed (CL), Cisse Hantao Ag Mohamed (CR), Cisse Mohamed (R) and Barry Hassan (L) sit in the box of the accused during their trial at the criminal court of Abidjan on December 22, 2022. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP)

 

 

 

A court in Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday handed down life terms to four men convicted of abetting a jihadist attack on a resort that left 19 people dead.

The court in Abidjan, the country’s commercial hub, found the four “guilty of the deeds for which they are accused and sentences them to life imprisonment,” Judge Charles Bini announced.

The March 13, 2016 assault was the first jihadist attack in Côte d’Ivoire, one of West Africa’s economic powerhouses.

Three men wielding assault rifles stormed the beach at Grand-Bassam, a resort town 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Abidjan popular with Europeans, before attacking hotels and restaurants.

The 45-minute bloodbath ended when Ivorian security forces shot dead the three attackers.

The 19 people killed comprised nine Ivorians, four French citizens, a Lebanese, a German, a Macedonian, a Malian, a Nigerian and a person who could not be identified.

 

Ivorian police officers escort four defendants linked with the Grand Bassam attack Kounta Sidi Mohamed (5L), Cisse Hantao Ag Mohamed (3L), Cisse Mohamed (2L) and Barry Hassan (4L) as they arrive for their trial at the criminal court of Abidjan on December 22, 2022. – An Ivory Coast prosecutor on December 21, 2022 urged life in jail for four suspects over one of West Africa’s bloodiest jihadist attacks — a 2016 machine-gun assault on a beach resort that killed 19. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP)

 

Thirty-three people of various nationalities were wounded.

Al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed responsibility the same day.

The four men — Hantao Ag Mohamed Cisse, Sidi Mohamed Kounta, Mohamed Cisse and Hassan Barry — were convicted of providing support for the operation.

None of those suspected of playing a higher role in the attack were present in court.

The court has issued an international arrest warrant against the alleged mastermind, Kounta Dallah.