ALGERIA: The half-brother of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah denied his sibling had any links with al-Qaeda or other militant muslim organisations
Record ID:
574076
ALGERIA: The half-brother of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah denied his sibling had any links with al-Qaeda or other militant muslim organisations
- Title: ALGERIA: The half-brother of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah denied his sibling had any links with al-Qaeda or other militant muslim organisations
- Date: 29th March 2012
- Summary: OUED SLAMA, ALGERIA, (MARCH, 28TH) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OUED SLAMA, BLIDA, PLAIN OF MITIDJA, 30 KM SOUTH ALGIERS. RACHID MERAH, HALF-BROTHER OF MOHAMED MERAH, WALKING TO BUILDING SOUNDBITE (Arabic) RACHID MERAH, HALF-BROTHER OF MOHAMED MERAH, 39 YEAR OLD MASON, SAYING. "I have no idea about what the media and French politicians say about Mohamed, they say that Mohamed was in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that he developed contacts with Al Qaeda. I deny that formally and I have doubts that he had any link with Al Qaeda or Taliban or any terrorist organization in the world. And the fact that proves it is that France killed him before he could speak in a trial, while they could get him alive." CUTAWAY RACHID MERAH SOUNDBITE (Arabic) RACHID MERAH, SAYING: "It's only accusations, even for the question of weapons, we can imagine that he was manipulated by French Intelligence because he is young and easy to influence, they could buy him with money or anything, they used him and after they killed him. All the scenarios are possible, who can prove that Mohamed filmed the video himself? It can be someone else." CUTAWAY RACHID MERAH SOUNDBITE (Arabic) RACHID MERAH, SAYING: "If they bring the evidence that Mohamed did all that, so we can say that he did it as a fighter and not a criminal or a mad guy. As we say, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as you sow, you shall reap. They killed our children in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, they have to take their responsibilities. The French minister of Interior said Mohamed was a monster but I answer that they created that monster who killed your children." RACHID MERAH LEAVING BUILDING
- Embargoed: 13th April 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Algeria, Algeria
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: Crime,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA7JSZM1KCBUJV310Y34J97LH7Z
- Story Text: The half-brother of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah on Wednesday (March 28) denied that his sibling had any links with al-Qaeda or any other militant groups, and said French authorities should provide more evidence that he was behind the slaying of three soldiers, three children and their teacher this month.
"I don't have any idea about what the media and French politicians are saying about Mohamed," said Rachid Merah, who shared the same father with his half-brother and who last saw Mohamed in March 2010 when he spent a few days in his house in Oued Slama, an area 30 km south of Algiers.
"They say that Mohamed was in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that he developed contacts with Al Qaeda. I deny that formally and I have doubts that he had any link with Al Qaeda or Taliban or any terrorist organization in the world. And the fact that proves it is that France killed him before he could speak in a trial, while they could get him alive," he told Reuters Television Merah died last Thursday under a hail of police bullets after a 30-hours stand-off with elite anti-terror forces. During negotiations, he admitted to the killing of the soldiers and the children at a Jewish school in Toulouse. News channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday refused to air video he shot of the killings and mailed to their Paris office shortly before police stormed his apartment.
But his brother, a 39-year-old mason, said he should have been brought to trial, where he could have given his account. French media have reported that his father has retained a lawyer in Algiers to press charges against the French authorities.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant has said that during negotiations with police, Merah said he carried out the school killings to protest against the deaths of Palestinian children. His half-brother said that if that was the case, his actions could be defended.
"If they bring evidence that Mohamed did all that, so we can say that he did it as a fighter and not a criminal or a mad guy. As we say an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as you saw, you shall reap, they killed our children in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, they have to take their responsibilities. The French minister of Interior said Mohamed was a monster but I answer that they created that monster who killed your children." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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