Al-Jazeera decides not to telecast video
Source: Agencies |
March 28, 2012, Wednesday
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AL-JAZEERA decided yesterday not to air a video that appears to show the attacks on soldiers and a Jewish school in southwestern France from the killer's point of view, including the cries of his victims.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and family members of the victims had asked that it not be broadcast.
The footage was contained on a USB key sent with a letter to the Paris office of the Qatar-based television company, Zied Tarrouche, the station's Paris bureau chief, said yesterday on French TV station BFM. The letter, written in poor French with spelling and grammar errors, claimed the shootings were carried out in the name of al-Qaida.
Later yesterday, a brief statement posted on the station's website said: "Al-Jazeera will not air video of French shootings." It said they would have more details soon.
Police traced the attacks to Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman, who was killed last week after a more than 30-hour standoff with police at his apartment building. Merah had claimed to police that he had links to al-Qaida, traveled to Afghanistan and received weapons training in the militant-riddled Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan. But authorities have questioned some of Merah's claims.
Prosecutors have said that Merah filmed all of his attacks, which began on March 11 with the murder of a French soldier. Before the spree ended, two more soldiers and three Jewish children and a rabbi were killed.
Tarrouche said the images appear to have been taken from the point of view of the killer, perhaps from a camera hung around his neck. He said they were a bit shaky but of a high technical quality.
"You can hear gunshots at the moment of the killings. You can hear the voice of this person who has committed these assassinations. You can hear also the cries of the victims, and the voices were distorted," Tarrouche said.
In an address to police officers and judges earlier yesterday, Sarkozy had asked that the images not be broadcast.
"I ask the managers of all television stations that might have these images not to broadcast them in any circumstances, out of respect for the victims - out of respect for the Republic," Sarkozy said.
There was no indication that other TV stations have the images.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and family members of the victims had asked that it not be broadcast.
The footage was contained on a USB key sent with a letter to the Paris office of the Qatar-based television company, Zied Tarrouche, the station's Paris bureau chief, said yesterday on French TV station BFM. The letter, written in poor French with spelling and grammar errors, claimed the shootings were carried out in the name of al-Qaida.
Later yesterday, a brief statement posted on the station's website said: "Al-Jazeera will not air video of French shootings." It said they would have more details soon.
Police traced the attacks to Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman, who was killed last week after a more than 30-hour standoff with police at his apartment building. Merah had claimed to police that he had links to al-Qaida, traveled to Afghanistan and received weapons training in the militant-riddled Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan. But authorities have questioned some of Merah's claims.
Prosecutors have said that Merah filmed all of his attacks, which began on March 11 with the murder of a French soldier. Before the spree ended, two more soldiers and three Jewish children and a rabbi were killed.
Tarrouche said the images appear to have been taken from the point of view of the killer, perhaps from a camera hung around his neck. He said they were a bit shaky but of a high technical quality.
"You can hear gunshots at the moment of the killings. You can hear the voice of this person who has committed these assassinations. You can hear also the cries of the victims, and the voices were distorted," Tarrouche said.
In an address to police officers and judges earlier yesterday, Sarkozy had asked that the images not be broadcast.
"I ask the managers of all television stations that might have these images not to broadcast them in any circumstances, out of respect for the victims - out of respect for the Republic," Sarkozy said.
There was no indication that other TV stations have the images.
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