Judges arrive for a trial of a suspected extremist cell at the Justice Palace in Brussels last year.

Judges arrive for a trial of a suspected extremist cell at the Justice Palace in Brussels last year.

MOHAMED ABRINI, THE “man in the hat” bombing suspect caught on camera during the Brussels airport attack, has been charged in France over the November 2015 jihadist massacres in Paris, his lawyers said today.

Belgium handed Abrini over to the French authorities today for a day so that he could face charges related to the deaths of 130 people in the French capital.

Abrini was captured in Brussels in April over his suspected involvement in the 22 March Brussels attacks and the Paris killings, both of which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Belgian investigators have said the Brussels airport and metro bombers who killed a total of 32 people were part of the same Brussels-based cell that orchestrated the Paris attacks.

The main suspect in the Paris attacks is Salah Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French national believed to be the only survivor of the jihadist team behind the carnage.

Comments have been closed as a man has been charged.

- © AFP, 2017