The former partner of France’s most notorious living terrorist, linked to the 2015 Paris attacks, now faces charges for allegedly planning violent acts as the nation commemorates the decade since those tragic events.
Maeva B, 27, who previously shared a relationship with Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the ISIS faction responsible for the November 13, 2015, attacks, stands accused of attempting to smuggle extremist content to him while he’s incarcerated.
According to French prosecutors, a flash drive she purportedly sent to Abdeslam was loaded with jihadist propaganda and potential plans for new attacks.
The 36-year-old Abdeslam is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Vendin-le-Vieil Prison, located near Lille, due to his involvement in the coordinated shootings and bombings that claimed 137 lives and injured nearly 500 people across Paris.
Following several days of interrogation, Maeva B has been charged with “criminal conspiracy for terrorist purposes with a view to preparing crimes against persons.”
This charge carries the possibility of a 15-year prison sentence and a fine exceeding £250,000, as reported by judicial sources.
Her lawyers have strongly rejected the accusations, saying in a statement: ‘Our client completely denies the allegations.’
Investigators say Maeva B has become ‘firmly radicalised’ and continues to show a ‘fascination with holy war.’
She is said to have admitted buying a USB stick, filling it with extremist material, and handing it to Abdeslam during a prison visit.
Maeva B, the ex partner of Salah Abdeslam, one of France’s most notorious terrorists has been charged with planning attacks of her own
Salah Abdeslam is the sole surviving member of the ISIS cell that carried out the November 13, 2015, massacres
The horrific attacks left 130 people dead and injured nearly 500 people
Police also detained two other suspects linked to her – a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old man described as her ‘new religious husband.’ Both have been charged and remain in custody.
Maeva B was said to be ‘pale skinned, with light eyes, when she appeared in front of a judge’ at a closed hearing on Monday.
She was ‘separated from Abdeslam and has had no contact with him since April,’ said the same source.
Maeve B is a French national from Montauban, in the Tarn-et-Garonne department of France.
She originally wrote letters to Abdeslam in prison, and is then said to have taken part in a ‘religious phone marriage’ to the Belgium-born killer.
There were then ‘marital visits’ to Abdeslam, leading to the French authorities having to deny that she was pregnant with his child.
Abdeslam is allowed access to a computer of ‘very limited use,’ so as to take academic courses, said a source working for the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT)
On Saturday, it was announced that the investigation had been ‘extended to terrorist conspiracy,’ despite the USB key itself not being found, said a PNAT spokesman.
Searches of Maeva B.’s home are said to have uncovered further plans for ‘violent action’ against civilians, said the same source.
Maeva B. and the other suspects, who have not been identified by name, were all remanded in custody.
It was in 2022 that Abdeslam was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, following a high-profile Paris trial.
In 2022, Abdeslam was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, following a high-profile Paris trial
He was the only surviving member of a 10-men Isis ‘commando’ that carried out the Friday November 13th 2015 attacks.
The suicide bombers targeted the Stade de France, bars and restaurants, and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 people were murdered.
Abdeslam drove bombers to the Stade, where France were playing a football friendly against Germany, but failed to detonate his own vest, which was full of explosives.
He then went on the run in his native Belgium, before being arrested following a shoot-out in Brussels in March 2016.
France is on high alert for further attacks as the country approaches the decade anniversary of the 2015 attacks.
