Brother of Suspected Jewish School Gunman Charged With Murder, Terrorism
- Posted on March 25, 2012 at 3:17pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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An unidentified man with his head covered, believed to be Abdelkader Merah or his companion, sits between masked police officers as they head to the French police's anti-terrorist headquarters in Levallois-Perret, outside Paris, Saturday, March 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
PARIS (AP) — A Frenchman suspected of helping his brother plot attacks against Jewish schoolchildren and paratroopers was handed preliminary murder and terrorism charges Sunday.
But Abdelkader Merah denied any role in the attacks. Investigators looking into France’s worst terror attacks in years believe Merah helped his brother Mohamed prepare the killings, and are investigating whether they were linked to an international network of extremists or worked on their own.
Abdelkader’s lawyer said he feels like “a scapegoat.”
“No one knew anything” about what Mohamed was plotting, lawyer Anne-Sophie Laguens told reporters in Paris. She dismissed reports that Abdelkader had praised his brother’s attacks. “He was never proud of those actions.”
Mohamed Merah, 23, claimed responsibility for killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers earlier this month. After a 32-hour standoff with police, he died Thursday in a hail of gunfire as he jumped out a window of his apartment in the southern city of Toulouse.
Mohammed Merah
Since then, attention has focused on his older brother Abdelkader Merah, who was handed preliminary charges on Sunday of complicity to murder and theft, and involvement in a terrorist enterprise, prosecutors said. Detained last week, he will remain in custody pending further investigation.
Preliminary charges under French law mean there is strong reason to believe a crime was committed, but allow magistrates more time to investigate.
Authorities suspect Abdelkader had a role in acquiring his younger brother’s arsenal and financing his trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. Mohamed Merah claimed allegiance to al-Qaida and told police he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for training.
Abdelkader was questioned several years ago about alleged links to a network sending Toulouse-area youths to Iraq, but no action was brought against him at the time.
Prosecutor Francois Molins said the inquiry is also looking at anyone else who could have been involved in planning the attacks.
The brother’s girlfriend, Yamina Mesbah, was held, then released early Sunday without being charged. The Merah brothers’ mother was released Friday night.
The girlfriend denied any involvement in what happened and said she was shocked by the killings, her lawyer Guy Debuisson said, adding that Abdelkader Merah appeared to have led a double life.
“This woman was unaware of anything about her husband’s accessory, complementary or secret life,” the lawyer said. The couple married according to Muslim custom in 2006, but did not undergo the civil ceremony required in France for a marriage to be recognized.
Abdelkader Merah took five or six long trips to Egypt, ostensibly to study Arabic literature, and his girlfriend joined him on two or three, the lawyer said.
During questioning by police, the lawyer said, Mesbah learned that Merah had had other motivations for his trip to Egypt and “a life that led him toward an extremely intense … fundamentalism.”
“The question to ask today is if Mohamed was the only one that was indoctrinated. Was it just him or are there others?” Debuisson asked.
The first paratrooper killed, Imad Ibn Ziaten, was buried Sunday in his hometown in Morocco on the Mediterranean coast. Townspeople held French and Moroccan flags as soldiers carried the coffin to the grave.
“It is incomprehensible, it is unimaginable. Terrorism doesn’t understand this. And above all we must not confuse Islam and fanaticism. They have nothing to do with one another,” his brother Hatim Ibn Ziaten said.
French State Secretary for Defense Marc Laffineur accompanied the family to Morocco, saying he wanted to show that “France is in mourning.” The other paratroopers were buried in France last week, and the Jewish children and rabbi were buried in Israel.
The killings have affected the race for French presidential elections in April and May, and raised concerns of tensions among France’s large Muslim and Jewish communities.
Thousands of people in Paris and Toulouse marched silently Sunday urging unity and tolerance of all religions and cultures after the killings. An enormous French tricolor flag borne by dozens of marchers waved above the Paris march as it snaked away from the Place de la Bastille, birthplace of the French Revolution.
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95bravo10
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:41amBeen out of the loop for a week or so.
Report Post »How is this guy a Neo Nazi and a Muslim at the same time?
I did not know we had Muslim skin heads running around!
I’am selling my tickets to Paris this summer. I can no longer keep up with who wants me dead anymore!
Only thing I can think of more scary is a cross breed between a Rottweiler and Chihuahua !!!
That could kill Godzilla right there!!!!!
Brother involved? Who would have thought? Really?????
More good stuff.They hate us ,we excuse them for said hate. What could go wrong?
txn4justice
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 11:54amThis is so hard to believe.
Report Post »Endracismnow
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 3:34amOil Prices are not rising because of Obama they are Rising because of (OPEC)
Report Post »OPEC is not American Government it is foreign gov made up of 12 nations none of which are the US
Endracismnow
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 3:31amCan we all forget about being Republicans Democrats and Independents for a few weeks and try to start to end something more serious? Something taught to young children that parents Don‘t really know they’re teaching their kids. When 9-11 Happened we all united as US Citizens, Now that We Have a Black President whose also Half white who just happens to be A democrat it seems we all forgot about 911 and are back to fighting each other. This is one of the reasons we lost a young boy 17 year old boy who was a good kid this was his first suspension. Got into a fight with a white kid because he called him a name. Its time to rise about hatred and Defeat Racism and The southern Fried KKK
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 1:48amAnd if Obama has a boy- “IT WOULD LOOK LIKE HIM”
Report Post »Endracismnow
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 3:22amStop Being Bigoted!
Report Post »survivorseed
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 12:39amHey Zoro, the only difference between Blaze heroes like yourself and the murdering muslims is that they carry out their threats and you’re all talk.
Report Post »Maybe if we provided them a website to spew their hate, they wouldn’t need to kill anyone.
chips1
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 9:24pmWhy did this story refer to him as a Frenchman instead of muslim-Frenchman. Don’t hyphens work in France?
Report Post »do_it_all_again
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 12:18amit is so sad that children have to be caught in the middle of this kind of thing,,,
it was reported he picked up a little 8 year old girl by the hair and shot her in the head
heres a picture of one of the victims,,, it just makes you sick at what these animals will do
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
Report Post »do_it_all_again
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 12:21amMohammad Merah trapped 8-year-old Miriam Monsonego in
Report Post »a corner, grabbed her by the hair and then shot her in the head.
The concern of French Muslims for Jewish victims of the
Toulouse massacre appears to correspond with the threat
posed by the identity of the killer to Islam‘s ’reputation’ .
paleoman
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 6:20pmHave you hugged a muslum today?
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 7:06pmhe should have kept his mouth shut. He said he was happy about the attacks the other day. Moron.
Report Post »voodoolife
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 12:22amI tried, but buy arms are not long enough to get around his bomb vest…
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 5:36pmAre you saying that a Jewish President will pressure the court?
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 5:34pmWhat I am looking for is,
Report Post »Which European nation will begin mass arrests of it’s populous?
Who will be the target?
zoro51
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 5:15pmmurdering MUSLUMS seriously what can be said thats NOT fact n truth….they are in a MAN MADE CULT OF HATE N DEATH they serve a STONE FALSE IDOL GOD allah with man made up rules, they dont even care about family or anyone else they will KILL their own kind n demand more blood.. now the brothers in on this.. GEE go figure.. MURDERING MUSLUMS.. … they will KILL you for NO reason proven fact n truth n OBAMA come to find out GAVE the afgans 50 grand each for thier sorrows. HES SUPPORTING MUDERING MUSLUMS.. when THEy should be forking out major dollars to the USA for ALL its murders they comitted on UA citizens n military.. IMPEACH OBAMA NOW
Report Post »Hickory
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 4:00pmObama will pay them $50K each for every American they pop while abroad. Just wait and see.
babylonvi
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 4:53pmCorrection, every ‘Republican’.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 3:57pmNow you’re talking. But, if you can’t find at LEAST 5 more tied directly to his weapons, ammo and other equipment, intelligence and spreading hate, then you aren’t modeled after the Great Inspector Clouseau of French Fame we all have come to expect as the best of the best in French law enforcement.
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 7:32pmWasn’t Lugash supposed to be a Muslim country?
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 3:44pmAl Qaeda linked Mohammed Merah was trained in Bosnia which has become a terrorist state under Alija Izetbegovic’s son! Alija Izetbegovic was an ally of Bill Clinton’s when he sided with the terrorists and built a monument to them in the heart of Bosnia with one million of our taxpayer monies and bombed the Christian Serbs four separate times.
~Serial killers from Toulouse, France’s Algerian-born Mohamed Merah, which is a few days ago killed seven people at the end of February was in BiH, and in one of the many lectures on Islam.
Merah was organized by the mysterious organization “Call to Heaven”, attended the lecture of its leader Mohammed Sejfudin Čivčije in Zavidovici focus of Banja Luka reported, citing officials of a western intelligence agencies.
“Merah has long maintained close contacts with a group of Algerians from Bosnia, of which the majority thought to have long left the territory of this country,” says Focus.
Some Croatian media reported yesterday that Merah last year several times to Bosnia, and he was seen in the King Fahd mosque in Sarajevo.
Arrested in Israel…
http://americandefenseleague.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/americas-gravest-mistake-bombing-the-christian-serbs-our-former-allies-and-the-bulwark-of-islamic-invasion-into-europe/
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 3:36pmStay vigilant folks…these types of attacks are very easy to pull off in this country.
Report Post »Latter-Day-Soldier
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 4:23pmBut we still have the 2ND amendment for those situations.
Report Post »Endracismnow
Posted on March 26, 2012 at 3:25amThe second amendment only defends against guns when you add the bomb vest it gets you both!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 3:28pmThis is… only near the Beginning!
Report Post »Welcome Black Carter
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 5:12pm“And above all we must not confuse Islam and fanaticism. They have nothing to do with one another,” his brother Hatim Ibn Ziaten said.”
In this world there is good and there is evil. islam, is evil. Until we are able to freely admit this, we have no chance of defeating it. Our future is grim.
Report Post »