GANG LEADER CONFESSES TO GRISLY MURDER OF FRENCH JEW

Gang leader confesses to grisly murder of French Jew (Middle East Times)
ABIDJAN -- A Paris gang leader was arrested overnight in Abidjan and has confessed to the kidnap, torture and murder of a young French Jewish man, Ivorian investigators said on Thursday, in a case that has horrified France.

Youssouf Fofana, 25, who fled to Ivory Coast shortly after the dying Ilan Hamili was found on February 11, could be extradited back to France by the end of the day, according to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. "He has French nationality. He has been arrested by the Ivorian police. [French] police investigators are on the scene, so we believe he could be repatriated to France in the coming hours," Villepin told Canal Plus television, referring to Fofana. "This is an odious crime, and it is therefore important that justice be rapidly carried out," he said. However, Abidjan state prosecutor Raymond Tchimou was quoted by the French daily Le Monde as saying that the process could take longer. "Extradition can be a drawn-out process. We need to get all the documents together ... We will go as quickly as we can. He could be back in France by the end of the week," Tchimou was quoted as saying. Ivorian police said that Fofana - a convicted petty criminal of Ivorian origin - had admitted taking part in Halimi's kidnap and murder. But they said that "he denies any anti-Semitic dimension" to the crime.

Halimi, a 23-year-old telephone salesman, went missing in late January after being lured into a trap by a woman. He was held and tortured for three weeks in a poor multi-ethnic suburb of Paris by a gang that sent ransom demands to his family. Ten days ago he was dumped beside a railway line just south of Paris city center. Naked, bound and gagged, his body bore horrific injuries and he died on the way to hospital. The crime struck horror in France's 500,000-strong Jewish community, where it was widely assumed that Halimi had been targeted because of his Jewishness.

After initial reluctance, the French authorities earlier this week said that they, too, believe that anti-Semitism was part of the gang's motives. On Tuesday the investigating magistrate heading the case opened the way for aggravated charges of racial hatred against gang members. By Thursday a total of 13 people had been placed under judicial investigation in Paris, the latest being the concierge of the building in which Halimi was held. In a growing climate of national outrage at the killing, President Jacques Chirac and Villepin were to attend a memorial service for Halimi later on Thursday at the capital's main synagogue. A silent demonstration through Paris city center is planned for Sunday. Chirac telephoned Halimi's parents on Tuesday to promise them that "everything shall be done to make sure those responsible for this act of barbarity are traced, caught and punished".

Investigators believe that the gang had made several failed attempts to extort money. According to interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, four out of six previous targets were Jewish, who were chosen because of the belief that "Jews have money". Press commentators on Thursday universally described the identification of Jews with money as an insidious and classic form of anti-Semitism. "The whole nature of this affair - the combination of gangland criminality with exceptional sadism and a brute anti-Semitic instinct that equates Jews and money - gives it an extraordinary character that inspires both revulsion and dread," said the leftwing newspaper Liberation. "Hatred of Jews has left the category of the unacceptable to become something normal - especially in the eyes of many young people," it said.