NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Father of France's most wanted woman shocked at terror links

Daily Mail
12 Jan, 2015 04:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hayat Boumeddiene. Photo / AP

Hayat Boumeddiene. Photo / AP

The devastated father of France's most wanted woman handed himself in to police, declaring, "That is my daughter", it has been revealed.

Mohamed Boumeddiene went to the authorities just hours after seeing his daughter Hayat's mugshot on television - released following her husband's murder of a policewoman and later four hostages in a Parisian deli.

Mr Boumeddiene is said to be shocked and heartbroken by his daughter's alleged involvement in the terror siege. She is thought to have fled France and made her way to Syria.

Read more:
• Paris gunman's chilling Isis video
• Free speech opponents among Charlie protesters
• Paris terror attacks: 3.7 million march across France against terrorism

Neighbours say he has since locked himself in his flat, disconnected his phone and has been heard crying and saying: "I don't know if she is dead or alive."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A friend said: "He went to the mosque on Friday to pray and then took himself to the police station after he saw her picture on the television."

Mr Boumeddiene, a delivery driver, is understood to have told police he had no idea what his daughter was planning and was "shocked". He was questioned but not arrested.
Police described Hayat, 26, who has reportedly received terror training, as "armed and dangerous".

Her husband Amedy Coulibaly, 32, was part of the same terror cell as the Kouachi brothers - Cherif, 32, and Said, 34 - who killed 12 at the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Boumeddiene is believed to have been involved in the planning of the co-ordinated attacks, after phone records revealed she had exchanged more than 500 calls with Cherif's wife Izzana last year.

There were suggestions she had also helped the men gather weapons.

Police revealed she may now be in Syria with Islamic State fighters, friends and neighbours shed light on her troubled but devout childhood.

Neighbour describes father's heartbreak

Last night, a neighbour who has known the family for more than 20 years described Mr Boumeddiene's shock after the photo of Hayat was flashed around the world.

Discover more

World

France 'a war zone'

09 Jan 11:20 PM
World

Darkness on City of Light

09 Jan 04:00 PM
World

Radical preacher jailed for life

09 Jan 06:56 PM
World

Shoppers saved by hiding inside freezer

09 Jan 11:38 PM

Although estranged for many years, they were said to have had a reconciliation recently. He picked her up from the airport when she returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca last year.

"Her father has been crying and saying, 'I don't know where she is, I don't know if my daughter is dead or alive'," said the woman.

"Her mother wore a head scarf. She was very religious ... a proper Muslim woman. She stayed at home and made bread. [Hayat] left 17 or 18 years ago when her mum died ... Her father saw her sometimes but she did not visit after he remarried.

"The new wife is very different - she doesn't wear a head scarf, she works in a retirement home."

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she believed Hayat's husband was the driving force, adding: "She left here with that man. He did everything and then it all came down on her. He was the mastermind."

A friend who goes to the same Al Islah mosque as Mr Boumeddiene said he had not attended the mosque since his daughter's links to the terror plot were revealed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Born in Villiers-sur-Marne, a suburb 14.5km east of Paris, Boumeddiene grew up in a small flat in a run-down part of the town - where her father still lives.

Her mother died suddenly when she was aged 6. It is understood her father struggled to cope after his wife's death and the younger of his seven children, including Hayat, were taken into care.

She is believed to have met Coulibaly in Juvisy-sur-Orge, southeast of Paris, while working as a cashier. He first came to the attention of police as a teenager and was later convicted of a string of drug and theft offences.

The couple lived in a flat in Bagneux, a poor suburb of Paris, where neighbours this week described them as "quiet and normal". They said they enjoyed holidays together, and were pictured embracing on a beach, Boumeddiene in a bikini.

Coulibaly is said to have met Cherif Kouachi between 2005 and 2006 while in Fleury-Merogis prison, south of Paris. Meanwhile, Boumeddiene became more devout, wearing traditional Islamic dress. She reportedly lost her job because she refused to take off her veil.

The couple married in a religious ceremony in 2009, though this is not legally recognised.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When Boumeddiene was interviewed in 2010 by counter-terrorism officers over Coulibaly's involvement in a bid to free bomber Smain Ait Ali Belkacem from jail, she refused to condemn al Qaeda attacks.

It was initially thought she was at the Jewish deli attack. But police said she was seen by Turkish authorities crossing into Syria on January 8, the day Coulibaly killed a trainee policewoman.

Cherif Kouachi's wife was released from police custody yesterday, after being arrested in connection with his attacks. She released a statement condemning the atrocities, claiming she had no idea of his plans.

- Daily Mail

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Most horrific attacks': Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 14, injure dozens

17 Jun 08:03 AM
World

'No sense': Defence challenges motive in mushroom poisoning case

17 Jun 07:34 AM
World

'Everyone evacuate': Trump's warning amid G7 Middle East talks

17 Jun 07:15 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Most horrific attacks': Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 14, injure dozens

'Most horrific attacks': Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 14, injure dozens

17 Jun 08:03 AM

Twenty-seven locations in Kyiv were hit, including residential buildings.

'No sense': Defence challenges motive in mushroom poisoning case

'No sense': Defence challenges motive in mushroom poisoning case

17 Jun 07:34 AM
'Everyone evacuate': Trump's warning amid G7 Middle East talks

'Everyone evacuate': Trump's warning amid G7 Middle East talks

17 Jun 07:15 AM
Body in bushland confirmed as missing teen Pheobe Bishop

Body in bushland confirmed as missing teen Pheobe Bishop

17 Jun 04:47 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP