The main suspect in the 2015 terror attacks in France, Salah Abdeslam, will be detained in Belgium for several more weeks before being extradited to France.
The word came Thursday from his lawyer after a hearing on continuing Abdeslam's detention in Belgium. The lawyer said Abdeslam cannot be extradited to France until he is questioned in another case concerning a shootout with police during a raid last month in Brussels.
Abdeslam was captured in Belgium on March 18 after more than four months on the run.
Global terrorist
On Tuesday the U.S. State Department named Abdeslam a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist."
The order says, "All property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Abdeslam has any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him."
It said Abdeslam "is an operative for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," a group the State Department has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
The Belgian-born suspect is accused of helping plan the November 13 terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people at multiple locations. He allegedly rented rooms for the suicide bombers and bought explosives.
"Witnesses identified Abdeslam as the driver of a car full of gunmen that killed patrons at numerous restaurants in Paris," the State Department said.
Authorities found his DNA both on a discarded suicide belt and on traces of explosives in a Brussels apartment, the statement said.
