Ilan Halimi, Murdered French Jew, Trial Begins With 27 Suspects

PARIS — The presumed leader of a group of 27 young people charged with participating in the torture and killing of a young French Jew took his seat in juvenile court Wednesday with the defiant declaration, "Allah will be victorious."

The 23-year-old victim, Ilan Halimi, was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006. He died on the way to the hospital after being held captive for more than three weeks.

Youssouf Fofana, 28-year-old presumed leader of a group of 10 young women and 17 young men, stands accused of a crime that shocked the nation. He is charged with premeditated murder, demanding ransom, and acts of torture and barbarism, and faces a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

He smiled as he took his seat in the Paris court and said, "Allah will be victorious."

Asked his last name, he said, "African barbarian army revolt Salafist." Asked his birth date, he replied, "February 13, 2006" _ the day Halimi was killed.

After the opening, the judge ordered the trial be held behind closed doors, with the public and media excluded, as some of the accused were minors at the time of the crime.

Tensions erupted during a break in the trial. A group of young people from a Jewish group chanting "Justice for Ilan" confronted one of the suspects, prompting a scuffle. Insults were hurled at Fofana's mother.

With the exception of Fofana, the accused are charged with a variety of crimes, including entrapment, kidnapping by an organized group, sequestration by an organized group that resulted in death, or failing to assist a person in peril.

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Fofana and his accomplices tried to kidnap other people, including some of Jewish faith, with the intent to demand ransom before seizing Halimi, the original charges said.

Halimi's mother, Ruth, said in a French television interview aired this week that she believed the proceedings should be open to the public.

She appeared in court, and sat rocking back and forth as if in prayer.

The family's lawyers say Halimi was targeted because he was Jewish. Critics say police initially ignored evidence of anti-Semitic motives in the killing, which caught the attention of senior government officials and prompted fear of a resurgent anti-Semitism in France.

Halimi's body was reburied in a Jerusalem cemetery in 2007.

Halimi's family distanced itself from the courtroom scuffle. "The Halimi family is not responsible for these incidents, is not responsible for these tensions. It is the crime that created it," said lawyer Caroline Toby.

Fofana's lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, said her client was "mistreated by a political and religious marketing campaign."

___

Associated Press writer Verena von Derschau contributed to this report.

Comments

[angry expat]

First of all, this is a rare and isolated incident in France; however the general mood is pretty tense. I was in the Jewish quarter and was asked to remove my keffia by a young man who purported it was the garb of "terrorists". On high holy days, be they Jewish or Muslim, armed patrols guard the synagogues and mosques in my mixed neighborhood. Nothing like the quaint Easter Sundays of my childhood...The Muslims of France needs to reach out to authorities to scrub out this type of radicalism. They can't do it alone because they themselves are in danger - ostracism from the church and reprisals abound.

It's a pity, because this is such an explosive issue in an otherwise peaceful culture that has managed to keep its traditions while looking to the future. This is also a post-colonial issue, and the government's desire to gloss over that painful past has led to a general air of denial on one side, rage on the other.

Muslims have to get it together and open up a bit to the rest of the world in order to de-fuse these end-game tactics, in France and around the world.

[harriettubman]

I've been following France's problems for a while and this just goes to show how the *Mus*lims are trying to take over France from forcing them to change school dress codes to the violence.

[luke150]

I just thought of something - the mass media are much more interested in the latest Bruni-Sarkozi attire than in the real social problems in France, or US, or anywhere for that matter.

[HowardJS]

What is the matter with these radical Muslims. How could anyone possibly think that torture,murder and hate can be an accepted part of what the Muslim holy books say.
It saddens me to think that for the foreseeable future this perverted thought process will continue to poison good muslim people. John Lennon said;Give peace a chance"

[luke150]

well, radical Muslims are not different from radical "Christians". History is full of examples. Extremism doesn't know religious, state, ethnic boundaries.

[SharpDressedMan]

Islam is a religion of peace on the surface and one of discrimination, hostility, brutality, and divisiveness at deeper levels. Look how they treat infidels. Zionists are regarded as public enemy number 1.

If you are not convinced, look within Islam and see how Sunnies and Shias mistreat each other, sometimes fatally. See how they treat Muslims who wish to convert to another religion.

They killed a famous Dutch filmmaker for his points of view. They were willing to hunt Danish cartoonists for lampooning their prophet. They put a million dollar bounty on Salmon Rushdie for his work. They condone honor killings, often for misguided reasons. Oh yea. They killed 3,000 innocent people in New York.

Still think it's a religion of peace?

[harriettubman]

This is true. Salomon Rushdie is a witness to their terror.

[Dzairi09]

as a Muslim myself it saddens me to see such acts of terror in the name of Allah because in reality the Quran forbids all such acts. It is Human nature to act violently and seek revenge they just have to look for justification and religion is always easy. This case is very bad but i am sure the defendants thought "Israel does it in Palestine all the time, we should pay them back." since they are not in Israel, Jews in France is the closest thing. Another thing, i really do not like when people use the word ant-semitic when arabs are fighting Jews because then you are saying that the Arabs are against themselves because they are also semitic! semitic is a language group that includes Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic! nothing to do with religion. educate yourselves ppl!

[Solaris123]

Two quotes from Dzairi09 posted pretty much explaint it all. Notice significant cognitive dissioance between these two statement. Typical.

"It saddens me to see such acts of terror in the name of Allah because in reality the Quran forbids all such acts."
and then
"Since they are not in Israel, Jews in France is the closest thing. "

[chaos4700]

That's not cognitive dissonance. He's pointing out that the youths merely picked a convenient target for their hatred. Kind of like how those Israelis who gatecrashed the Durban conference were spitting on that Muslim commentator, even though he was from India and not the Middle East.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/parvez-sharma/poor-israel-sure-and-i-am_b_189011.html

[AdamX]

Interesting, the way you have taken it upon yourself to deny the obvious.

All Jews are Israelis now?

You can't accept that there atrocities against Jews - why? Why must you find an excuse to justify this thing? And then, you have the nerve to deny anti-semitism has anything to do with it?

[harriettubman]

Goes to show what MAN will do in the name of religion, even though you can't find their acts in the Bible or Koran.

[Gibbs]

Youssouf Fofana is a punk, not an islamist. Don't fall for the phony politicized rhetoric.
Robbery and extortion were the motive. I think that he is trying to make himself into a "martyr" in order to make the trial into a political case rather than a criminal one. More to be gained there than trying to justify kidnapping, sequestration and torture.

[Solaris123]

Or could it be that he was thoroughly indoctrinated in his racism at his mosque?
Conceivable?

[Grada3784]

So could it be that many gay-bashing Christians are just as indoctrinated in their churches?

Like AIDS and Hurricane Katrina being the wrath of God against gays? Or Jimmy Swaggert's foul "joke" about killing gays who look at him the wrong way?

[Spiritof1982]

Wow. This is a jump.

[AContrario]

"Youssouf Fofana is a punk"

So true. There are many youngsters like Fofana who feel they have been abandoned by
"La Republique" and find solace in filling up their brains with ready-made BS from
various extremists, Muslims or far-right(Catholic).

In France,like anywhere else 80% of crimes committed by youth are rooted in poverty
and social alienation. This fact doesn't excuse Fofana's vile act but politicizing a sordid
crime is not the way forward.Very poor journalism.

[SharpDressedMan]

Interesting theory but I don't buy it. If the Muslim gang wanted just money, they didn't have to kidnap a Jew. They could have gone after someone wealthy of any heritage.

[zaz33]

This cries for justice.

[Solaris123]

For whom?

[scottinsd]

You're kidding, right?

[JerryLevy]

The contortions the political leadership in France have been doing to look the other way on violence committed by the members of the French Muslim community against gays, Jews, Churches, Christians, etc. They were always quick to say it was right wing French LePen extremists even though there was no evidence of it. Several years ago during the French riots, the media self censored and barely reported on it. The problem in Paris is not Israel, the U.S. or foreign policy. It is hatred and intolerance plain and simple. When revered imams, school teachers, civic leaders, Islamic media, religious figures preach hatred, vitriol and blasphamy against others of different beliefs, it generates violence and it will get worse. The Muslim leaders in Paris should be loudly preaching tolerance but it is not happening.

[Gibbs]

There have been, in fact, acts of desecration against Jewish tombstones, attacks on synagogues, by skinheads and Le Pen supporters in France.
There have also been acts committed by muslim youths. To say, however, that they are responding to the inflammatory rhetoric of radical imams, is an exaggeration. Most of their violence has been traced time and again by responsible sociologists to poor living conditions, bad education and unemployment that can be as high as 40% among young males in the Paris suburbs. Most Muslim leaders in France are aghast at violence and condemn it. That's a fact, Jack.

[JerryLevy]

Lets see Jack, these 27 Muslim Youths kidnapped a Jewish person, tortured him for weeks and then killed him and it is because of bad education, unemployment and poor living conditions. Tell that to his family.

[shaman25]

Ironic that the country where Islamic expansionism was quelled in 732 A.D by Charles Martel, is on its way to becoming an Islamic Republic -"Those that forget history............."

[Solaris123]

England has been lost. Most European countries are still resisting, however.

[mazzetta]

obviously you know nothing about GB, as about Europe and muslims in Europe, who are a minority even inside immigrant flows, only an ignorant or a lier can spin the idea of a "islamic republic" in Europe, let alone that only 5% of muslims in Europe attends mosques...

keep on drinking likudnicks' poisoning fantasies, we'll keep on welcoming muslims who are rid of islamic regimes and willing to live in secularized and peaceful societies, your rants won't change our attitude, your stories won't make us hating anyone

[moflard]

When, exactly, was England lost? And to whom? Are you aware that ALL ethnic minorities in the UK make up only 10% of the total population?

[davidwayneosedach]

27 against one? That's as bad as the 'wilding case' in Central Park 10 years ago. Pretty sick stuff.

[Paulo1]

"Allah will be victorious."

I tend to agree with the accused. Allah will indeed be victorious, which unfortunately for him means that he will rot in hell for eternity as I do not believe he can twist the Quran into approving of the torture of anyone like this.

[Dzairi09]

I agree!

[timberdoodle]

Children doing the torture...............not much different than here in the U.S. as most of the Bush gang are a little on the childish side as well.

[BubbaC33]

This case has nothing to do with Bush or America or Israel. It really doesn't have anything to do with Islam. What this case comes down to is thugs attacking an innocent person. These cowards do not represent the Islamic faith. They do not represent the ideas and ideals of Islam. All these cowards represent are cowards.

[GZLives]

But they didn't attack an innocent "person"
They attacked a Jew.
He could have been any Jew ... didn't matter.

And they will be supported by many in their community because a great many believe killing of Jews is cause for celebration.

And the poster who said something about Israel has it backwards. Its this mindset that makes it impossible to imagine a peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Jews or for that matter Muslims and Hindus as we see in India or Muslims and Buddhists as in Thailand. Certainly NOT ALL but way too many who seem to hav the rest of Islam cowed.

But worse is the Left endlessly waiving off the responsibility and always assigning it to being somehow the fault of the West or Israel or poverty or everything other then the religious teachers who preach this hatred.

The Islamic world needs to hear those Muslim voices who condemn this, and many do, louder and clearer and continuously, then those who support it.

[msfsi]

Good post BubbaC33 :) I rest my case about you making a good neighbour!!

[WoodyTanaka]

Very good post BubbaC33. I think that the most important point in all of this is to look at the people as people, with rights due every human being.

[moflard]

OK Bubba, time for you to take a lie down.

I completely agree with you (....gasps from the gallery....).

[Solaris123]

I would actually prefer if those who endorse these actions of these 27 assassins to come out into the open.
Rather than lurk in the shadows with the innuendoes and deflection.
Come, be a man and own up to your beliefs.

[WoodyTanaka]

Who, exactly, do you believe is "endors[ing]" the actions of these people?

[brandnewstuff]

The United States "Torture Program" dripping sarcasm

[brandnewstuff]

So if you Tortured a person of Jewsih faith it is okay for Torture charges-

Anyone else of a different faith has to wait for charges of organized criminal with sick minds-

for the USA does not Torture-

Torture Program -dripping sarcasm

[Solaris123]

Lemme get this straight, brandnewdrip.
Ahhh...your sympathies for these 27 criminals who are accused of torture IN FRANCE... because ahhh.... IN UNITED STATES some people were tortured at Gitmo?
If this makes sense to you, give up

[MzPenny]

More fuel for the fires of anti-muslim sentiment. Islamic leaders need to speak out loudly to condemn these kinds if acts when they happen.

[irv]

as long as muslim leaders do not speak out against terror or violence i have to assume that their silence is an affirmation of the conduct. that is why the islamic faith has not been repected in the usa in general. if someone would step up they could change that opinion but so far no takers!