Attackers Farid Benyettou Self-proclaimed imam of Buttes-Chaumont group. introduction to radical islam IN 2003 MEETs IN PRISON IN 2005 Djamel Beghal Jihadist linked to Al Qaeda. Arrested in 2001. CHÉRIF KOUACHI Amedy Coulibaly Paris kosher market attacker. At least one of the brothers trained in yemen Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. SAÏD KOUACHI introduction to radical islam IN 2003 Farid Benyettou Self-proclaimed imam of Buttes-Chaumont group. Attackers MEETs IN PRISON IN 2005 Djamel Beghal Jihadist linked to Al Qaeda. Arrested in 2001. Chérif Kouachi Amedy Coulibaly Paris kosher market attacker. At least one of the brothers trained in yemen Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. Saïd Kouachi Attackers Farid Benyettou Self-proclaimed imam of Buttes-Chaumont group. introduction to radical islam IN 2003 MEETs IN PRISON IN 2005 Djamel Beghal Jihadist linked to Al Qaeda. Arrested in 2001. CHÉRIF KOUACHI Amedy Coulibaly Paris kosher market attacker. At least one of the brothers trained in yemen Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. SAÏD KOUACHI introduction to radical islam IN 2003 Farid Benyettou Self-proclaimed imam of Buttes-Chaumont group. Attackers MEETs IN PRISON IN 2005 Djamel Beghal Jihadist linked to Al Qaeda. Arrested in 2001. Chérif Kouachi Amedy Coulibaly Paris kosher market attacker. At least one of the brothers trained in yemen Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. Saïd Kouachi

CANAL+ Farid Benyettou, central figure in the Buttes-Chaumont group. Introduction to Radical Islam One of Chérif and Saïd Kouachi’s earliest influences in radical Islam was Farid Benyettou, whom they meet at a mosque in northeast Paris. Mr. Benyettou, then 22, was a janitor-turned-preacher who set up a pipeline for young French Muslims to join Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda network in Iraq.

Pièces à conviction, France 3 Frames from a 2005 documentary about the Buttes-Chaumont group featuring Chérif Kouachi. A Group Coalesces Around Meetings in a Park Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, along with other young Muslim men, take Farid Benyettou’s classes and go on hourlong jogs at Buttes-Chaumont Park. The men later become known as the Buttes-Chaumont group. Chérif Kouachi decides to head to Iraq, leaving his brother behind. But hours before his flight on Jan. 25, 2005, he is arrested by the French police. The Kouachi brothers worked out at Buttes-Chaumont Park when they lived in the 19th Arrondissement.

Making Extremist Connections in Prison While in prison, Chérif Kouachi is exposed to Djamel Beghal, one of France’s most radical jihadists. He meets Mr. Beghal, who was convicted in the 2001 plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Through him, he also befriends Amedy Coulibaly, who at the time was serving time for armed burglaries. Chérif Kouachi is released in 2006. Gamma; Militant video, via Associated Press Djamel Beghal, left, an Algerian-born Frenchman, and Amedy Coulibaly.

Photos published in legal proceedings Djamel Beghal, left, and Chérif Kouachi in a photo taken during police surveillance in 2010. Plotting a Jailbreak Chérif Kouachi, Djamel Beghal and Amedy Coulibaly are detained for plotting a jailbreak to free Smaïn Aït Ali Belkacem, a militant in prison for attacking a Paris rail station. Mr. Coulibaly and Mr. Beghal are sent back to jail. But Chérif Kouachi is released after a judge rules that there is not enough evidence to convict him.

Agence France-Presse – Getty Images U.S.-Yemeni radical Anwar al-Awlaki speaking during a video lecture at an unknown location. Traveling to Yemen One or both of the Kouachi brothers travel to Yemen to train with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. American officials now say that Chérif Kouachi may have used his brother’s passport to go to Yemen to receive training and $20,000 from Al Qaeda’s affiliate there. Before his death, Chérif Kouachi tells a TV reporter that he had been trained and financed by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born preacher who was a top propagandist for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.