フランスで1月21日に誘拐された23歳のユダヤ人青年イラン・アリミ（イラン・ハリミ、Ilan Halimi）さんが、2月13日、パリ南郊の線路沿で発見され病院に運ばれる途中で死亡した。アリミさんは、全裸で、体中に切り傷と火傷を負い、猿轡と手錠を掛けられた姿で発見された。
The Halimi murder [Jerusalem Post]
The discovery of the dying Halimi near rail tracks in the Paris suburb of St. Genevieve on February 13 sent shock waves throughout France. The cell phone salesman was found handcuffed, gagged, battered, slashed and with burns over most of his naked body. He had obviously been tortured to death.
The interrogation of the since-apprehended gang, which abducted and then for three weeks held Halimi for ransom - before, as French police report, dousing him with flammable liquid and setting him alight - indicated that greed wasn't the sole motive.
アリミさんは、勤務先の店に客を装ってやってきた女性に呼び出され、誘拐された。そして身代金400,000 ユーロ(£273,500; $475,000) を要求する E-Mail が家族に送信された。
French police make kidnap arrests [BBC NEWS]
Paris public prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told a press conference that the presumed leader of the organised gang was still on the run, but that he had been identified and was "extremely dangerous".
Aged 26, he calls himself the "brain of the barbarians" and is thought to have had a number of "run-ins" with the law.
The kidnapping has alarmed France's Jewish community, since the victim worked in a Jewish neighbourhood in Paris, and he and several of the others targeted were Jewish.
「宗教と人種」揺れる仏 「反ユダヤ主義」誘拐殺人 [産経新聞]
その後、同様の手口の誘拐未遂事件が六件発生していたことや、狙われたのがユダヤ系住民だったことなどが判明。十三人のアフリカ人らのグループが容疑者として浮上し、出身地のコートジボワールに逃走していたリーダーらが逮捕された結果、彼らの供述などから、ハリミさんらを狙ったのは「ユダヤ人は金持ち」という固定観念からだったことが分かった。
サルコジ内相は、こうしたユダヤ系への固定観念は「反ユダヤ主義」と指摘。ハリミさんの母親も「ユダヤ系ゆえに殺された」との認識を示し、「反ユダヤ主義者には非寛容を」と訴えている。
Killing in France Seen as 'Wake-Up Call' [WashingtonPost]
Ruth Halimi, the victim's mother, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "If Ilan hadn't been Jewish he wouldn't have been murdered."
このような「反ユダヤ主義」に基づく犯罪事件（ヘイトクライム）の続発に対し、フランスでは、パリを中心に反ユダヤ差別、反人種差別を訴える大規模なデモが行われた。
French protest for murdered Jew [BBC NEWS]
Among those at Sunday's rally were members of the government and the opposition, Jewish and anti-racism campaigners, and leaders of the Jewish and other religious communities.
Roger Cukierman, the head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France said: "It's important for French society to realise that little anti-Semitic and racist prejudices can have terrible consequences."
Torture slaying of Jewish Frenchman spurs massive march [CBC NEWS]
Police estimated that about 33,000 people marched in Paris, while organizers said the crowd included as many as 200,000.
It included politicians of all stripes – including several cabinet ministers and former prime minister Lionel Jospin – as well as prominent Jewish and Catholic religious leaders.
"Today, we must march, we must stand up, to say that in France each of us has the right to live in dignity whatever his God, his religion, the colour of his skin," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told demonstrators.
One of the Jewish protesters, Olivier Barbe, carried a handmade placard reading "If only I were rich!"
"Ilan's murder was based on anti-Semitic prejudice," Barbe told CBC News in French.
ユダヤ人団体のほか仏政界の左右両派を含む広範な人々が参加し、パリでのデモ参加者数は警察発表で３万３０００人となった。仏ユダヤ人評議会のクカーマン議長は「ささいなユダヤ人差別、人種偏見がひどい結果につながることを仏社会が知ることが重要だ」と話した。
France awaits return of key suspect in Jewish youth's murder [Expatica]
After initial reluctance, the French authorities earlier this week said they too believe 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.
このユダヤ人青年誘拐殺害事件のニュース、欧米のメディアではかなり大きく扱われているのだが、日本で見かけたのは──ウェブ上でだが──産経新聞と毎日新聞ぐらい。「諷刺画」と「フォアグラ」（鳥インフルエンザ）では、あれほど騒いでいるのに……。
そしてその両新聞にしても、「刃物で刺された」「傷だらけ」という表現に止まるが、イスラエルやアメリカのメディアは、被害者がいかに酷い仕打ち、拷問を受けたのか、詳細に報じている。
また『テレグラフ』のブログでは、この事件を扱った Colin Randall 氏のコラムに対し、いくつかのコメントが寄せられ、議論になっている。
The suburban prejudice [Telegraph]
