ByAnonymous, Anonymous
The alleged murderer of French DJ Sebastien Selam, who was killed with a knife and fork in the car park of his apartment building, is not mentally fit to stand trial, a Paris court has ruled.
Twenty-two-year-old Mr Selam was killed in December 2003 by a small-time drug dealer, Adel Amastaibou, who lived in the same building. Mr Amastaibou allegedly slit Mr Selam’s throat with a knife and gouged out his eyes. He is said to have run upstairs to his flat and, according to his mother, cried: “I killed a Jew! Now I will go to heaven!”
A court ruled in 2006 that Amastaibou suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and could not control his actions. The current court verdict was in response to an appeal by Mr Selam’s family. They wanted the case labeled an antisemitic crime.
The verdict comes at a sensitive time for the Jewish community. Just six months ago a court convicted Youssef Foufana and his “gang of Barbarians” for the kidnap and brutal murder of Ilan Halimi in 2006. There is concern, however, that the antisemitic nature of these violent crimes and that the extent of antisemitism amongst French Muslims is still being underplayed by the media, politicians and courts.