When news first broke of the terrorist attack last Saturday in Paris, the French government rushed out a statement describing the suspect in custody as a French citizen born in France. His name was given as Armand R.
More details gradually emerged and the picture painted of the man accused of stabbing to death a German tourist was what every western government dreads – that of a man who bit the hand that fed him. It is a story not too dissimilar to that of Salman Abedi, who detonated a bomb at the Manchester Arena in 2017, killing himself and 22 others. Abedi was born in Manchester to Libyan parents who had fled their homeland for a new life in the West.
In the case of Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, his parents had left Iran for a more liberal life in France. Naturalised in 2002, Rajabpour-Miyandoab’s name was changed a short while later from Imam to Armand as a sign, presumably, of his family’s wish to assimilate into their adopted country.
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