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Hala Gorani Tonight
Paris Terrorism Aftermath Continuing Coverage; At Least 21 Killed In Attack In Mali's Radisson Blu Hotel. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired November 20, 2015 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:05:36]
HALA GORANI, HOST: Thank you for joining us for a special edition of The World Right Now, I'm Hala Gorani.
One week ago at this very hour, the attacks on Paris began. At 9:20 p.m. the first suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France but this
Friday tonight Parisians are back out in a show of force and solidarity.
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GORANI: Piles of flowers as and candles are growing in places like Place De La Republique as well as behind me here at the Petit Cambodge restaurant
and other places that were assaulted.
People are defiantly returning to the city's bistros and cafes. I was just in one, there were people sitting out on terraces. 130 people were killed
in total in last Friday's attacks on the French capital. Much more on Paris later this hour with special guests and reports.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: But first a hostage crisis at a hotel in Mali. It's now over but security forces are still going room by room hunting for the gunmen who
stormed the Radisson Blu Hotel with some 170 people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Let me bring you up to date with what we know this hour. A rescue operation freed dozens of hostages after a standoff in Bamako, a standoff
that lasted for hours. French and American special forces assisted in this particular raid we are told. The U.S. State Department just said that about
a dozen Americans were rescued including the Chief of Mission in Mali.
And a U.N. spokesman now says at least 21 people were killed but Malian authorities say the situation is too fluid. Listen.
SALIF TRAORE, MALIAN SECURITY MINISTER: (As translated) Terrorists aren't holding hostages at the moment and we are leading the assault to neutralize
the situation. Only after that will we be able to search the rooms properly and evaluate the situation. We know there are some victims but we need to
first search the hotel and then we can communicate the death toll. Until then, it's only speculation.
GORANI: All right, the Radisson Blu Hotel just to give you a sense of what kind of building we are talking about. It is usually occupied by expats,
foreigners, international clients and customers. It's in an upscale neighborhood of Mali's capital. And the UN says diplomats were gathered
there to attend peace talks.
Attackers burst into the hotel with guns firing. Two groups with ties to Al Qaeda are reportedly claiming responsibility. More on Mali at the - in just
a few minutes on the program.
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GORANI: But back to Paris now. I'm in front of Le Petit Cambodge restaurant there is also Le Carillon. These are two sites that were attacked last
Friday. The investigation however is yielding many new results.
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GORANI: Today we learned more about this woman, Hasna Aitboulahcen. She died during Wednesday's early morning raid in Paris' Saint-Denis
neighborhood.
Prosecutors now say that in fact she did not blow herself up. This is something we were told reportedly that this had happened, that she would
have been Europe's first female suicide bomber, that appears not to be the case. But that in fact she was killed when a man nearby detonated a suicide
device.
Police also now say that a third person died in the raid, a woman who has not been identified so it's three, not two, in that apartment. And of
course as we've been reporting that raid also killed the alleged ringleader of Friday's plot, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: At least one suspect remains on the run and serious questions are being asked about how Abaaoud was able to travel to Syria and then return
to Europe undetected.
For more I'm joined now by Rob Wainright, he's the Director of Europol, the European Union's Law Enforcement Agency and he's live in the Hague at this
hour.
Mr. Wainright, thanks for being with us. I've got to ask you first of all, you have warned against similar attacks in Europe. You say that we should
expect essentially other spectacular terrorist attacks in this part of the world. Tell us more about what makes you say that publicly right now.
ROB WAINRIGHT, DIRECTOR OF EUROPOL: Well, we're very concerned in Europe that after suffering a number of terrorist attacks in the last two years
carried out essentially by lone actors what we saw one week ago in Paris was something of a different order. An internationally planned network of
terrorists carrying out for the first time on the streets of Europe indiscriminate public shootings, suicide bomb attacks, something therefore
a different scale of planning a level of sophistication.
[15:05:14]
WAINRIGHT: Clearly more serious and threatening in nation. A statement of intent I think by ISIS to take their brutal brand of terrorism indeed to
Europe and what makes me concerned about what the likelihood that there will be more attacks is the capability that we know that ISIS have. And I
am concerned therefore about the extent to which the network in Europe might be still up and running and might be supported from Syria and Iraq.
And now, as you can imagine, that is the top focus of my agency and counterterrorist authorities right around Europe.
GORANI: But Mr. Wainright, I've got to ask you, literally everyone in France is asking. This particular suspected orchestrator ringleader,
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, believed to be in Syria. How was it possible that a man on such a hot list known to authorities was able to come back to Europe and
it looks like travel freely across the border from Belgium into France and was even spotted in surveillance footage in a Paris metro station. Would
you call this an intelligence failure?
WAINRIGHT: Well the lessons are still being learned Hala, about that right now. This investigation that Europol is supporting is changing by the hour.
It's very dynamic. And we're learning more and more about the movements of the main suspects.
What I can say is that we have a particular problem in Europe with thousands of foreign fighters who have been radicalized here often by the
internet, have gone to Syria and Iraq, been radicalized by conflict experience there had and are returning to Europe. And it presents a very
sizable security challenge, particularly in the area where we have freedom of movement that we all enjoy as our citizens in Europe. So a particular
security challenge.
What we decided today, the special meeting of ministers that I attended in Brussels is that we have to redouble our efforts to protect the external
borders of the E.W. and in particular to up our game in intelligence sharing and police cooperation.
GORANIP: But I've got to ask you here with respect, I mean if a man like Abdelhamid Abaaoud can slip through the net in such a way, I mean who can't
in that case? I mean if citizens in Europe cannot expect their law enforcement and intelligence agencies to keep a track - to keep track of
the - of really literally probably the one most wanted terrorist in Europe, how can they trust their agencies to do any kind of job to protect them at
this stage?
WAINRIGHT: Well, he's the number one wanted terrorist in Europe now. It wasn't necessarily the case a week or two weeks ago. And what we have Hala
is also a challenge around the fragmented intelligence picture, as security authorities around Europe try to deal with significant amounts of
intelligence about a significant number of possible suspects.
And it's simply not possible to monitor all of them 100% all of the time. What we have to do is learn the lessons of this investigation to rebuild on
our efforts. It's important that the ministers decided that a new European counterterrorism center will be established at Europol from the 1st of
January next year and this will provide I think a better platform for intelligence sharing and operational cooperation in the future.
So we are building our capability all the time but let's face it, Europe is facing the most significant international terrorist threat that we have
seen for at least ten years and it's something that is clearly a top priority for ministers and police chiefs alike right now.
GORANI: And as the head of Europol, as you look at the situation now, do you believe that the measures discussed today in Brussels will be enough to
protect European citizens further? What more needs to be done? This is turning into sort of a regional emergency for people here.
WAINRIGHT: Well there was certainly determination on the face of all the ministers there today. They were reaching out to find very ambitious, I
think new measures determined to do so to track for example illegal firearms as they are supplied around the criminal underworld in Europe.
Better monitoring of terrorists financing, better security screening on those external borders. And then this establishment of this new common
European counterterrorist platform as well.
Now they will make a big, big difference to the fight against terrorism provided of course they can be implemented quickly and correctly. And
providing the counterterrorist authorities right around Europe, rally to the cause, step up to the plate and make sure therefore that we're working
at the maximum possible level to as a concerted community to protect our citizens from further attacks.
GORANI: Rob Wainright, lastly I've got to ask you about the passport free zone Schengen. Do you think it should be reduced to a smaller number of
countries? Yes or no and why - I mean do you think that would essentially be a measure that needs to be implemented at that this stage to reduce
Schengen to a smaller number of countries to help sort of secure borders along the way from the outer edges of the E.U. to the center?
[15:10:21]
WAINRIGHT: No, I don't and the reason I say that is because the travel free movement that we have in Schengen is one of the defining features of our
values in Europe right now and something that our citizens enjoy every day. It's our job as a counterterrorist and police community to protect our
citizens from enjoying the benefits and protecting terrorists from abusing them. So we have to redouble our efforts without resorting those kind of
measures in my opinion.
GORANI: All right, Rob Wainright the Director of Europol joining us from the Hague. Thank you very much for being with us this evening on the
program. We appreciate your time, Rob Wainright there attending an important meeting today discussing measures to increase security, share
more intelligence to try to avoid the type of attack we saw here one week ago today.
As I mentioned, it has been one week, we will have more on Paris in a moment. But after a quick break with gunmen striking in Mali's capital
today and Paris still reeling after last week's attack.
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GORANI: How can security services fight back? I'll speak to a former advisor to the French Defense Minister after the break.
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GORANI: We continue our special coverage from Paris this evening. It has been one week since the horrific attacks of last Friday on restaurants, on
bars, on concert venues, on the Stade de France.
[15:15:04]
GORANI: Now people are gathering here behind me, it has to be said, outside two restaurants that were targeted last Friday. One week on, the streets
are certainly more crowded. There is strength and determination, even though there is an underlying feeling of fear.
Now at the on top of this hour we told you about another attack that took place today targeting a hotel in Mali's capital Bamako.
Let's get more on all these stories. I'm joined by Francois Heisbourg, he's the Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, he's
also a former advisor to the French Defense Minister. Mr. Heisbourg, thanks for being with us. You hadn't been here before to this particular location.
FRANCOIS HEISBOURG, CHAIRMAN, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Not to this cross road but at the Bataclan where the main
operation took place.
GORANI: It's been one week. What do you say to yourself with the benefit of hindsight about what happened in Paris?
HEISBOURG: I'm absolutely of course shattered by what happened. I was not surprised by the fact that there was a big terrorist operation. There was a
general sense of expectation but I was surprised at such an elaborate operation which took a lot of preparation was not caught in time by the
security services.
GORANI: I was speaking with the director of Europol, I said to him if this terrorist ringleader, someone who was suspected already of having tried and
failed in that callus attack, the train attack for instance, the attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels, that man must have been on the radar. And
yet he really slipped through the net. What do you make of that? Would you call it a spectacular intelligence failure?
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HEISBOURG: The intelligence failure I think was not necessarily about an individual. It was about the fact of not having picked up a large group
since the three squads that did the terror operation. These were about ten or 11 people, we're not yet quite sure. And they maintained operational
secrecy they prepared their homemade explosives without any lateral hindrance and that is where (inaudible).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So what went wrong here? What needs to change because something needs to change.
HEISBOURG: Security services in France are generally good but they are under resourced, undermanned, understaffed and that is really going to have
to change. In other European countries the quality is often very spotty.
GORANI: Let me and other European countries - let me ask you about Mali really quickly. Not ISIS, an Islamist attack against a Bamako, a hotel in
Bamako. There you have a history of French military involvement, they fought an Islamist insurgency, it was considered a success but here you go,
another soft target.
HEISBOURG: It's a soft target and you'll always have acts of terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEISBOURG: Not all will be presented but we did prevent Mali from being transformed into the functional equivalent of the Daesh state in Syria and
Iraq and that surely is a success notwithstanding the hostage taking today.
GORANI: Francois Heisbourg, thank you very much for joining us.
HEISBOURG: Thank you Hala.
GORANI: We really appreciate your time and your analysis and expertise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: We'll have a lot more here from Paris. A witness to the explosion outside the Stade De France says his cell phone saved his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: He joins me live in a moment. Thank you very much. All right. I'm so glad your son is safe.
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[15:21:40]
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GORANI: Well it's just past 9:20 in Paris at the Stade De France one week ago almost to the minute terrorists carried out the first of several
attacks that rocked the city and the world, it has to be said, during a football friendly between France and Germany.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: There were several explosions outside of the stadium. We later learned that a suicide bomber was responsible for the first blast. Five
minutes later across town the next horrific crimes took place at two restaurants, including at the restaurant behind me called Le Petit
Cambodge. You see it there and there is still flowers, still candles, the French flag, little notes of encouragement. That happened at 9:25 p.m.
masked attackers with Kalashnikov assault rifles killed 15 people, seriously wounded 10 more.
Joining me now is a man who witnessed the blast outside the Stade De France. He says his cell phone blocked shrapnel from hitting his head.
Sylvestre (inaudible) thank you for joining me. [Speaking foreign language]
So just to tell our viewers, the way we're going to do this is I'm going to speak to Silvestre in French and I'll - oh here we go, just to explain to
our viewers what's happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: There was an online campaign calling on Parisians to make noise, clap and sing and celebrate life at exactly 21:20, the moment the first
attack took place. And outside the two restaurants, La Carillion and Le Petit Cambodge you can hear applause. [ applause ] There you have it,
choosing life, choosing to celebrate this moment. Even though this country and this city is still going through grief and processing the trauma of
last Friday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: I want to get back to Sylvestre [speaking French ] -- Silvestre you were at the stadium when you heard one explosion, a second one and then a
half hour later you actually saw a suicide bomber. Tell us more.
SYLVESTRE ALCHAISO, VICTIM OF PARIS ATTACKS: [speaking French]
GORANI: Sylvestre arrived with his cousin and a friend a little bit late. They weren't allowed into the stadium right away.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: They tried to find a parking spot and that's when they heard the first explosion.
ALCHAISO [speaking French].
GORANI: He says it's not fireworks it was too loud.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
[15:25:10]
GORANI: And there he sees police officers that are gathered and they figure something really serious was happening.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: And he's told by authorities no, no, this is a gas explosion, don't worry, it's not a bomb.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: So police then come and say, no-no, it was a bomb, you have to evacuate.
[Speaking French] half an hour later, half time that's when horror happens to you. [Speaking French]
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: He's trying to meet up with his cousin and friend. It's half time and then what happens?
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: He was on the phone with his cousin.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: They say "we're at the car, come meet us" he's on the phone asking where they are.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: He says a suicide bomber was in the middle of a group of people and he was very nearby.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: And he says I'm coming and at that moment - at that moment the explosion takes place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: He had -- you had this phone. [speaking French ] and I don't know which camera to show it to. Maybe this one. This is where shrapnel hit the
phone. You can see clearly either a ball bearing or a big piece of shrapnel hit the phone. [speaking French ].
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: [speaking French]
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: You think this phone saved your life and you're saying yes. How do you feel, Sylvestre? Because are you -- we were talked a little bit
earlier. [speaking French]
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: Yes, he doesn't -- he's not even realizing today that he's still even alive.
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: [speaking French]
GORANI: The people are saying "we're not afraid, we're here a week later." [Speaking French]
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: People are so courageous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Sylvestre, I want to thank you so much. [speaking French]
ALCHAISO: [speaking French]
GORANI: All right, we're going to be right back with more after the break.
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[15:31:50]
GORANI: Welcome back everyone to this special edition of the World Right Now. Just to look at what's going on behind me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: There was an online campaign called #2120 that essentially asked people here in Paris to show that they were celebrating life and out in
force and sitting in cafe terraces and just about a few minutes ago we heard people starting to clap behind me. I'm at the site of two restaurants
that were violently assaulted by terrorists last week, Le Petit Cambodge, and Le Carillon as well.
And behind me you can see makeshift memorials and candles and flowers and people writing little notes there as well celebrating the courage of the
survivors and also mourning the victims.
We want to bring you also our other story this evening. The latest on the violent assault that played out today at a luxury hotel in the capital of
Mali. A U.N spokesman now says at least 21 people were killed when heavily armed gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel this morning.
They took dozens of hostages including diplomats. The hotel was hosting delegations working on the peace process in Mali when the attack started.
The Malian army says all the hostages are now free. The U.S. State Department says about a dozen of them were Americans. Reports say two
groups linked to Al Qaeda have claimed responsibility.
And Mali is no stranger to Islamist violence. It's been fighting an insurgency for years, even asking France to step in and help back in 2013.
Here's Robyn Kriel.
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ROBYN KRIEL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bamako under attack. These were the scenes in the Malian capital on Friday morning as gunmen stormed
the Radisson Blu hotel firing shots and taking hostages.
A U.N. Spokesman says at least one of the cars had diplomatic license plates. The siege that left scores dead inside this hotel which prides
itself on its tight security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (As translated) The authorities need to take strong measures. We leave our houses everyday to buy bread but if something like
this can happen then I'm worried.
KRIEL: For West Africa, this is the third fatal terror attack in a week. Two days ago it was ISIS affiliate group Boko Haram blamed for
orchestrating one bombing in Nigeria and suspected in another, leaving more than 40 people dead.
The town of Yola was struck first where more than 30 people were killed. 24 hours later at a market in northern Nigeria authorities say two young
girls, one only 11 years old, detonated suicide vests killing more than a dozen people.
Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS earlier this year, becoming ISIS' largest affiliate. At the time, the Nigerian-based terror group consisted
of roughly 6,000 fighters and controlled up to 20,000 kilometers of northeastern Nigeria.
Northern Mali, however, has been traditionally an Al Qaeda stronghold with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM being the most predominant terror
group in the West African nation.
[15:35:06]
In August of this year, a splinter group of AQIM called (inaudible) claimed responsibility for a hotel attack in central Mali. In a similar pattern,
gunmen entered the hotel popular with foreign guests killing 17 people, including U.N. personnel, westerners and Malian soldiers.
A counterassault was launched as Malian troops stormed the hotel. And in March, the same faction attacked a restaurant in Bamako that killed five
people including a French citizen and a Belgian security officer.
Mali Islamic militants were scattered and much of their power eroded by a French military offensive that began in January, 2013. But pockets of
insurgents remain able to launch sophisticated asymmetric assaults. Attacks like these and the one today at the Radisson are horrific reminders of the
terror threat in the region.
Robyn Kriel, CNN, Nairobi, Kenya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Melissa Bell, The International Affairs Editor for France 24 she is with me here in Paris at the site of the restaurant attacks here in the
10th arrondissement. What do you make of being here a week later?
MELISSA BELL, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, FRANCE 24: It's extraordinarily moving to see that all these people have come out and as you mentioned a
moment ago that hashtag, and people have really responded to come out and make some noise. That was the idea by the people to make their presence
known, show that life was carrying on despite everything.
There's this sort of defiance that you've seen in a number of the messages that you see posted around the different sites where these attacks happened
and I think that's really the sign tonight to say that knocked but not out, that's really the idea of the people coming out on the streets apparently.
GORANI: It was that hashtag campaign, #2120, that's when the attack started last week and it's not terrorists out here, its ordinary Parisians enjoying
their city and celebrating.
Let's ask - let's talk about Mali here a little bit because this in this some ways is also France being targeted and let this anti-Islamist
insurgency in 2013, this is Al Qaeda claiming responsibility not ISIS. But still France has to feel targeted in this particular instance.
BELL: Yes, absolutely, France has been involved in Mali since early 2013. It had gone at the request of the Malian authorities to push back this
Islamist insurgency and this number of different groups in coordination. Three main ones operate in the north of Mali of which (inaudible) which has
claimed responsibility for this.
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BELL: And they're really - it is affiliated to Al Qaeda. So it is a new twist in this story. We've seen this intensification of attacks outside of
the territory controlled by the Islamic state organization over the course of the last few weeks. This is something new. This is an Al Qaeda
affiliated group claiming responsibility one of a few operating in northern Mali since about 2012.
What happened was it was a spillover of the Libyan revolution. They found themselves in northern Mali and they swept very successfully down through
northern Mali, took control of it until the French intervened. Now what the French have done is push them back.
GORANI: And the French have described this as a successful intervention.
BELL: Well it has been insofar as it's allowed Mali to remain Mali. So the two halves of Mali, I mean if you look at a map there's a clear divisions
between the northern part which was claimed by the (inaudible) which have been in a rebellion for many years now and the southern part which is a
very different population. And the French did manage to push back the Islamist insurgency and to give back to Mali its territory.
CROSS-TALK
BELL: Is to stamp out these groups entirely.
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BELL: You're talking about a hugely vast part of the world. That part of northern Mali is huge with very porous borders with Algeria and Libya. And
of course these forces, these groups continue to operate and what we discovered today -
[CROSS-TALK]
GORANI: --and right in the heart of Bamako. Exactly.
GORANI: Back to Paris here, I spoke with the Director of Europol, Rob Wainright, I said to him, look if this terrorist ringleader is able to slip
through the net pretty much everybody should be able to slip through the net. And essentially he was saying well, you know, he wasn't this terrorist
mastermind before. He became that after this particular set of attacks in Paris, etc.
But what he highlighted that was important, too, is he basically said we don't have the -- we don't have the staffing that we need to in essence
conduct the kind of surveillance and monitoring we should be doing in this huge E.U. region.
BELL: No the same Chief of Europol has said in the last few days that it is 28,000 people on European soil that would need to be watched. That in one
way or another closely or in a more indirect way or associated with Jihadism and so on. And of course that would take huge amounts of manpower
to keep an eye on 24/7, obviously as you can imagine and they simply can't do it.
And yet one can understand their difficulties in addressing the question. Still this was a man who was the subject of both the European and an
international arrest warrant and who was on French soil. And as (inaudible) France's Interior Minister said a couple days ago, look at no point did any
our European partners tell us that he was on European soil. So clearly there's a bit (inaudible).
[15:40:00]
GORANI: -- Well there's a bit of passing the buck as well here. The Belgians didn't tell us, the French didn't tell us, no the external borders
didn't spot them. And you know at some point there's going to be a centralized harmonized approach to this or it's just not going to work.
BELL: This is precisely what they were talking about in Brussels today. So the E.U. Interior Ministers and Justice Ministers met to say how do we
ensure that Europe's external borders are safe? Because you're talking especially about the Schengen area where 26 countries have no borders at
all.
So where you have a guy like this who has a Belgian passport of course he can come in and out easy, if you set aside the question of the arrest
warrants which should have alerted authorities at some point. He had a Belgian passport so how do you prevent someone with a European passport
coming into the Schengen area and operating freely within it? And of course the point that Europeans are understanding is that Europeans who have been
blessedly free of these sorts of controls over the course of these last few years are going to be -
GORANI: Well, they're going to have to think hard about -
BELL: -- much more regularly into when they come in and out of the European Union, and I think that's what people want.
GORANI: Absolutely. Well, yes, we'll see how public opinion shifts. Certainly now it's still raw, still very fresh. We'll see where that goes.
BELL: Well for now it's very much on the side of the hardening of the laws. There have been questions raised here in France about how far Francois
Hollande is going in terms of the extension of the state of emergency, the new legislation that he's propose, the fourth anti-terror bit of
legislation in three years in France that some people say goes a little bit too far. 94% of the French public is behind what he's doing for the time
being and it is because of what happened in places like this.
GORANI: Melissa Bell thanks very much for being with us from France 24.>
One week at this exact time a horrific attack was just beginning at a concert hall here in Paris not far from where I'm standing now. It was 9:40
p.m., three gunmen burst into the Bataclan and began shooting. Take a look.
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GORANI: A week ago today after an hour-long siege, 89 people were found dead inside that venue. Scores more were injured. Those who survived spoke
of systemic execution style killing. This is the scene outside the concert hall today. What was so often in the past a place of music and celebration
now a somber place of remembrance for so many killed inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Coming up, this photo from last Friday night in Paris went viral.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: CNN sits down with the doctor who took it as he explains the message he wanted to send to the world. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Welcome back as gunmen and suicide bombers rampaged across Paris last Friday, emergency rooms filled up with the wounded. Dr. Pourya
Pashootan snapped a picture of doctors at work, that photo went viral. He sat down with Poppy Harlow to explain the message he hoped to send along
with his picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This one is worth countless.
Have you ever seen anything like you saw on Friday night?
DR. POURYA PASHOOTAN: Never.
HARLOW: Doctor Pourya Pashootan was off duty when the shots rang out across Paris, he raced to the hospital.
PASHOOTAN: I went directly to the first floor where there was the most injured people.
HARLOW: How many people did you treat on Friday night?
PASHOOTAN: There were 27 person who came to the hospital and (inaudible) to see this kind of injury here. (Inaudible) In our country we never see this
kind of thing (inaudible).
HARLOW: You're not used to treating gunshots.
PASHOOTAN: No. Not so much. A few a year, but not 10 people coming together all in one place, there was many people we tried to (inaudible) for each
person there was injury of the face injuries of the thorax, of the belly. Some war scene.
HARLOW: It was a war scene.
PASHOOTAN: It was exactly that. The most that you can feel was the context, to see the fear in the eyes of the people that were coming, it was most of
them (inaudible) it was everything, everybody
HARLOW: All different religions?
PASHOOTAN: All different -- All different religions, just everybody.
HARLOW: What was the message you were trying to send with the photograph?
PASHOOTAN: It was a big organization for everybody to save to people we came here to help people. It's our job.
HARLOW: We are all together.
PASHOOTAN: All together, yes. Everything was awful. The only thing that was great out of this night and quite night was the mobilization of everybody.
HARLOW: Somehow with this photograph you found the good.
PASHOOTAN: In the middle of this tragedy there was a little bit of hope and we were there to show that we will be always there.
HARLOW: You won't give up.
PASHOOTAN: Never. Never give up.
HARLOW: Poppy Harlow, CNN, Paris.
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GORANI: Remarkable. Coming up.
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GORANI: This woman has been rewarded for trying to dissuade prison inmates in France from joining these Jihadi movements and she has a very powerful
reason for doing it. I'll explain more in a few minutes.
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[15:51:29]
GORANI: Welcome back. It's been a week since the horrific attacks of last Friday. These two restaurants here were targeted. Several people died here
when gunmen shot ordinary Parisians enjoying a Friday night in cold blood. But this evening a very different scene.
An impromptu jazz mini concert is been taking place. There was an online campaign called #2120 calling on French people and Parisians, and anybody
really in the neighborhood to come out and celebrate life, celebrate Paris.
Of course people are continuing to mourn and grieve but at the same time they are alive and they want to tell the world that Paris will continue to
be Paris.
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GORANI: There you have it. Now let's talk about radicalization in this country. It's of course one of the major issues in combatting home grown
terrorism. The campaign to weed it out has found an ally in the form of a mother. She lost her son in a terrorist attacks in 2012. Now the Moroccan
immigrant tries to dissuade prison inmates from joining these movements.
On Thursday, she was rewarded for her work. Our senior international correspondent, Jim Bittermann has her story.
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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Long before the France attacks a foundation begun by a former French President decided that
an immigrant mother from Morocco should be awarded this year's annual peace prize. The reason?
Latifa Ibn Ziaten has worked tirelessly against Islamic radicalization. Work she started after her 30-year-old son Imad, an off duty French
paratrooper, was shot in cold blood by terrorist Mohammed Mira in 2012.
Mira went on to kill six others, including children and teachers at a Jewish school in the south of France but he began not as a terrorist but a
common criminal a trafficker in drugs and stolen cars. And like a growing list of terrorists here, he became radicalized while serving prison time.
Learning that Ziaten formed an association named after her son and began visiting prisoners to speak to inmates hoping to stop them from turning
into terrorists.
LATIFA IBN ZIATEN, MOTHER FIGHTING YOUTH RADICALIZATION: (As translated) a prisoner needs help. Because by himself in his cell he's not communicating
with anyone. If he stays in his cell he gets filled with more hatred so he needs someone from the outside to help him.
BITTERMANN: Ziaten was horrified at the events here in the past week and blames authorities for being complacent.
ZIATEN: There was Mira case and then all was put aside. Then "Charlie Hebdo" and we forgot about this just as well. And today the very same. The
heart of Paris was struck again.
BITTERMANN: At her awards ceremony she told President Hollande face to face that more had to be done to end discrimination, improve the economic lot of
young people who live in France's tough suburbs, and help in her efforts with the prisons. If not, she told me later, security forces will never win
the battle against terrorists.
ZIATEN: They are everywhere this is why it is urgent that we do what we have to do.
BITTERMANN: Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
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GORANI: And before we leave you tonight, the people of Paris are turning away from fear. They're trying and they're trying as well to look toward
love and solidarity.
[15:55:07]
We leave you tonight with a tribute to the grieving city that refuses to give up its Joie de Vivre.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[playing "La Vie En Rose"]
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GORANI: This has been "The World Right Now thanks for watching. I'm Hala Gorani. News of the Paris attacks one week on as well as the situation in
Mali continues on CNN. Stay with us.
END
