Thursday, May 21, 2009
John Rosenthal writes about the Paris trial of the murderers of Ilan Halimi: The Other Daniel Pearl
The photo is worthy of the name of the magazine whose cover it adorns: "Shock" or "Choc" in French. It shows a man whose head has been wrapped in duct tape. His face is completely covered except for a small space that has been left for his nose. The nose is bloodied. The man's hands are bound in front of him, likewise with tape. A key chain has been hung on his fingers: perhaps to help identify him or perhaps as a subtle threat to his family or friends. The man is seated in front of an orange and purple drape, evidently to hide his surroundings. A copy of the Parisian daily Le Parisien has been propped up on his arms in front of his chest, thus indicating the date. Emerging from off frame, a gloved-hand holds a gun pressed against the man's temple.
The man in the photo is Ilan Halimi: the 23-year-old French Jew who was kidnapped, tormented, and killed by a self-styled "gang of barbarians" in the Parisian banlieue in early 2006. Halimi went missing on January 20, 2006. When police found him bound and naked near train tracks south of Paris on February 13, he was barely still alive. He had two stab wounds to his throat, another on his side, and burns over 80% of his body. He would die the same day from his wounds and the combined effects of the abuse he had suffered over the previous three and a half weeks.
The 28-year-old Youssouf Fofana - nicknamed the "Brain of the Barbarians" - and twenty six of his presumed accomplices are currently on trial in Paris for the kidnapping, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi. But one would barely have known it. The trial, which began on April 29, has been closed to both the public and the press...
I believe Shock is the magazine that was giving Michael Yon difficulty.
A larger version of the photo is at the post, which is worth reading in full. I intended to lead this entry with the picture until I got to this part and it gave me pause:
...The Paris district attorney's office has opened an investigation against Choc and the magazine's website has gone offline. Citing privacy concerns, Ruth Halimi's lawyer, Francis Szpiner, has seconded the district attorney's office. On Wednesday, following a joint complaint of the two parties, the magazine was withdrawn from newsstands...
Nevertheless, and as Rosenthal concludes in his own piece, this photo ought to be seen. Is that right or not?
I passed this along. Too important to be ignored.
Too important to be ignored, indeed.
Yet it's also worth remembering Ilan as he lived:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasite/images/iht_daily/D190206/Halimi.jpg
He was a fun-loving 23-year-old Parisian, who believed he was going out on a date... and never made it home again.
I had a thing or two to say about it here at the time. (Please note the Abu Ghraib connection... and let us keep in mind, in our soul-searching about waterboarding and sleep deprivation, what real torture is.)
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
"a self-styled "gang of barbarians" ..."
Can't help but wonder if this too is the type of thing, had it occurred in the U.S., that a Charles Schumer would have marginalized by noting the "gang of barbarians" involved were not part of an organized terrorist group. Not to harp on Schumer along, but his statement is reflective of a wider phenomenon, including policy-wise within the administration.
And of course this is deserving of wider, world-wide coverage and commentary. If it were a singular and deviant and grotesque crime, fine, little commentary and reportage outside of France would be expected. But the motives, the onerous quality, the anti-Jewish quality and perpetration by an essentially ad hoc "gang of [Islamic] barbarians," the continuing dearth of Muslim protests and movements against such a crime and anti-Jewish and anti-Judaic sentiments in general - all of it speaks loudly and poignantly and inherently demands commensurate, world-wide notice and commentary. And yet ...