In a poignant book, “15 minutes to save my life”, Mostafa Salhane describes the distressing closed session with the terrorist in 2018. The former taxi driver also recounts how he managed to escape thanks to his composure, but also the terrible consequences on his life and his slow reconstruction.
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Strasbourg, December 11, 2018. It is 7:58 p.m. Mostafa Salhane has just dropped off four Italian parliamentarians in the heart of Petite France, the historic district of Strasbourg, when a man suddenly rushes into the back of his vehicle. The taxi driver doesn’t know it yet, but he is the terrorist Cherif Chekatt, the terrorist who has just killed five people and injured eleven others at the Strasbourg Christmas market.
“If you act smart, I’ll turn you on”
In his book, 15 minutes to save my lifepublished on February 1 by Plon, Mostafa Salhane describes in detail the quarter of an hour that will follow. “ He stares at me. (…) Black look. Nervous. (…) It was at this moment that I received his first instruction: “Take me back to Neudorf! Hurry up! My mother is ill !” », says the fifty-year-old. With his ten years of experience as a taxi driver and his past as a nightclub physiognomist, he immediately understands that something is wrong. He questions the strange passenger whose attitude worries him and at first thinks he is dealing with a thief, because the man seems to be hiding something under his jacket. But after a few minutes, the latter thrusts a gun into his ribs and shouts at him from the back seat: “ If you act smart, I’ll turn you on “.
The taxi driver follows the instructions that his passenger gives him little by little. Until at 8:01 p.m., the terrorist announced to him that he had just committed an attack, boasted of having killed ten people, including Muslims, and gloated at the idea of having injured soldiers who had attacked him. shoot on it. “ He claims in relation to what is happening in Syria and Iraq. He is angry with France, with the military “, reports Mostafa Salhane to whom the terrorist declares: “ You will stay with me. It’s over for you tonight ». The taxi driver tries in vain to bring him back to his senses: “ But why did you do that? ? “. What the terrorist responds to “ You shut up and drive “. Convinced of his imminent death, the driver begins to pray.
“ I am also a victim »
At 8:09 p.m., the terrorist finally revealed his destination: the police station. Mostafa Salhane understands that he wants to “finish the job” by going to kill police officers. Ready to die, the taxi driver decides to rush his vehicle into the river located near the police station to put an end to this deadly rampage. But the terrorist, injured by soldiers, suddenly feels pain and asks the driver to treat him. “ If you want me to treat you, you have to get out of the car, I have everything in the trunk », he tells him, and thus convinces the terrorist to let him stop. Taking advantage of a moment of inattention on the part of the latter, Mostafa Salhane manages to escape with his vehicle and goes to the police station to give the report which will identify the terrorist as Cherif Chekatt. He will be questioned there for 8 hours as a witness. “By treating me as a witness, they forget that I am also a victim and that I need support,” he laments with bitterness.
In the early morning, Mostafa Salhane returned home where he found his wife and children, in tears. Informed of the events by the media, they had imagined the worst. But although he returns safely among his family, the one who is already celebrated as a hero is then overcome by a feeling of guilt. “ During the 48 hours that the terrorist was on the run, I was afraid that he would kill a family, a dad, a mom or children. “, he confides. Then comes worry and hyper vigilance in the face of the fear that possible accomplices of the terrorist could come and eliminate him.
Mostafa Salhane does not find peace
Even once the terrorist was killed, Mostafa Salhane did not find peace. On the contrary, his life is as if swept away by a tsunami. The acute post-traumatic stress and depression from which he suffers have a devastating effect on his life. His children move away, he divorces. “ I lost everything. My taxi. The business I started with my daughter. Our house that escaped us. Twice I even wanted to end my life “.
What helped him rebuild himself were trips to his homeland: Morocco, painting and even the writing of this book. But also the commitment to serving other victims. In 2020, Mostafa Salhane created the Association Victimes Attentats to defend the victims of attacks and the duty of memory, but also to prevent radicalization in educational and sporting environments. “ I fight every day, every night, this venom that the terrorist instilled in me. (…) When we are affected by terrorism, it is for life. My hatred does not subside. My anger against this individual remains intact », writes the one who paid the high price. And yet, ” if we had to redo it, I will not hesitate », he concludes.
Read alsoStrasbourg attack: the moving story of Mostafa Salhane, taxi driver held hostage by the terrorist