French 'Terrorist' - "he's not my boyfriend"

[AbeSaidYes]

I wondered how other people were feeling about Hasna Aitboulahcen, the woman who was wearing a suicide vest in the recent Paris Siege?

I have just seen that she had shouted 'he's not my boyfriend' in response to the security forces and also I have read that she called 'help me' before the bomb went off.

It seems to me that there is every chance she was an unwilling victim of this atrocity - does anyone else feel the same? it just doesn't sit right with me.

[AbeSaidYes]

her friend talks about her

[PirateSmile]

I think it's unwise to make any assumptions at this stage although I would question why she blew herself up when confronted rather than simply handing herself in?

[AuntieStella]

There is also every chance that she was an active planner and instigator. I do not think we should ascribe motivations according to sex of the perpetrator. Though in due course a thorough investigation might shed light.

The comment about the boyfriend was in response to a question by police, not something she wanted to say of her own volition.

[AbeSaidYes]

I am not saying that because she is female she is not a suicide bomber. More that because she was protesting that she was not his boyfriend and pleaded for help perhaps she was not a willing participant in the wearing of the 'suicide vest'.

Given that there are often stories of people forced to wear these vests I would think that her responses immediately before the vest went off might have pointed to something other than her being there willingly?

[howtorebuild]

Do you think she was used as a slave then?

[QueenLaBeefah]

I think she was shouting "help me" to attract the police over so she could kill more people.

[PirateSmile]

Who do you think detonated the suicide vest Abe?

[AbeSaidYes]

I think there are many people who could have detonated the suicide vest, not least the other body that has since been found in the flat.

Or she could have under duress.

As much as we don't know either way (and possibly never will) I just wondered about the potential for this to be an unwilling action and if there are issues here surrounding the media portrayal of the woman as 'the first European female suicide bomber' given all the things we don't know about her and all the things she said.

[PirateSmile]

It's incredibly unlike another person could detonate a suicide vest worn by a person who was an unwilling participant.

Given the gravity of the things this woman and her associates are said to have done your posts are at best extremely naive and at worst offensive AbeSaidYes

[BarbarianMum]

Doubt it. Otherwise why not shout "help me" then stand there with her hands in the air so she could have been helped? She didn't have to detonate, she chose to.

[AssembleTheMinions]

I thought that the man in question was her cousin hence the 'He's not my boyfriend' comment.

I would also imagine that being surrounded by very heavily armed police would make anyone shout 'help me'.

[VestalVirgin]

I would question why she blew herself up when confronted rather than simply handing herself in?

Because she didn't want to go to prison, as women are apparently now housed with males in prisons.

I never understood why any woman would work together with Islamist terrorists, those guys hate women.

But I can very well imagine why she wouldn't want to go to prison.

The first article I read about this assumed it had been a trick to lure the police closer. Considering that she's related to the terrorist, that seems rather likely. Might also explain why she participated in this in the first place.

[PirateSmile]

Really VestalVirgin? She was so frightened of going to to prison that she blew herself up? According to the press, when she detonated the vest her head flew off into the road but, yes, stupid me, she was motivated by a fear of prison

[VeryHungryCaterpillars]

Didn't she kill a lot of people in Bataclan.

I suspect she was feigning innocence in an attempt to draw police closer to 'rescue her 'before killing as many as she could.

[CoolSummer]

I think you should ask for this thread to be deleted, for the reasons Pirate outlines.

[VestalVirgin]

@PirateSmile: And how is blowing oneself up so much worse than hanging that people would do one, but not the other, to avoid prison?

If she was motivated by wanting to kill people, then I have to say those men that were taken prisoners should be ashamed of themselves, and seriously reconsider their sexist gender role stereotypes - apparently, women even make better terrorists than men.

[MrNoseybonk]

Might also explain why she participated in this in the first place.

Yep, women can't have a mind of their own and make their own decisions can they? Must be a man behind it.

[Mide7]

Does it not go against feminist theory to think that women can't do these things of their own accord?

A bit like the becky watts thread as well.

Depending on how you look at it, plenty of male terrorists are groomed/ coerced the same way as this woman could have been.

[MrNoseybonk]

Because she didn't want to go to prison, as women are apparently now housed with males in prisons.

Like this one?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-34869620

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

This thread feels in bad taste for a few reasons.

For a start, she described Abaaoud as her cousin - but this can be used to refer to close friends who are not blood relations. There is no indication at this time that they were in a relationship.

Secondly, it's not uncommon for those who are about to blow themselves up to ask for help, to attract others close enough that they cause more casualties.

Thirdly, there is no indication that anyone else detonated her vest - forensic evidence so far suggested that she detonated it herself.

Fourthly, her phone had been tapped, so they are very aware of how much she was saying and how much she knew, and it's likely that they are also aware of whether she was being coerced because of this, but again there is no evidence of that.

And finally, although what she has allegedly done is horrific, it seems very anti-feminist and women as a whole to decide that as she is female, a man must have put her up to this. We would be outraged if the press suggested that. Whilst I'd rather that no human was doing anything half as despicable as what she did, she is no less likely to have planned or carried it out than a man.

[BarbarianMum]

Well, I must admit I assume that most suicide bombers are pressured and brainwashed into volunteering by people a whole lot cleverer and nastier than themselves. But that's true of the men as well as the women.

[BreakingDad77]

What I found sad was the mother saying that her son didn't mean to hurt anyone as proof of his explosive jacket not killing anyone....

[AbeSaidYes]

"Does it not go against feminist theory to think that women can't do these things of their own accord?"

I am not sure - but confused about why you think that is what I am saying.

[PirateSmile]

I cannot understand how this thread, which is misguided enough already, has now entered the transgendered being imprisoned with the wrong sex argument?

[AbeSaidYes]

BTW - if anyone does find the questions I asked offensive then please do report but I won't be because I do not intend to offend and cannot really see where the offence lies.

Thank you though for some of the extra information provided, which I was not aware of, which has encouraged me to read up a bit more about what the authorities know. I didn't know her phone was tapped for example.

From what I have since read it was being tapped as part of a Drug investigation, not a terrorist investigation.