French knife attacker’s friend handed charges

A close friend of the Paris knife attacker, Abdul Hakim A, was charged with “associating with criminal terrorists” on Thursday after he had been taken into custody for questioning in the eastern city of Strasbourg last Sunday. The 21-year-old man denied all claims that he was either preparing or carrying out acts of terrorism. France's top anti-terrorism investigator Francois Molins confirmed to AFP that Hakim denied any recent links to Khamzat Azimov, the Paris knife attacker, who is a Chechen-born French national. Hakim said that he had not seen or been in contact with Azimov for several months.