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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: March 8, 2006 |
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The father of a young Jewish man whose brutal killing captured nationwide attention spoke out about the negotiations with his son's kidnappers, and said that anti-Semitism may have played a role in the crime.
The kidnappers "were just too happy to have a little Jew on their hands," Didier Halimi said in an interview - his first - with the French daily Le Monde, appearing in Wednesday's edition.
Authorities found his son, 23-year-old Ilan Halimi, naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13. He died on the way to the hospital.
Critics accused police of initially ignoring anti-Semitic motives in the crime, which caught the attention of top government officials and has revived fears of anti-Semitism in France.
Halimi said he was in almost daily contact with the kidnappers during most of the more than three weeks of his son's captivity.
When Halimi told them he could not afford the $540,000 ransom, the kidnappers told him to go "ask the Jewish community for the money," he said.
Acting on police recommendations, Halimi eventually cut off contact with the kidnappers. They had "made so many empty threats" to hurt or kill his son that Halimi was "pretty confident" of securing Ilan's release, he said.
Still, Halimi defended the police, who have come under fire from his ex-wife and two daughters, saying that "it's always easy to criticize after the fact," and that officers on the case "worked like crazy."
"If anyone is at fault," he said, "it's those who kidnapped and tortured my son."
Halimi said his contact with the kidnappers did not end with his son's death. Two days after authorities found Ilan, his father received a threatening phone call from one of the kidnappers, who told him "Next time, it'll be your turn," Halimi said.
French police have detained 18 people in the investigation, including the suspected gang leader, Youssef Fofana, a Frenchman of Ivorian descent, who fled to Ivory Coast. Ivorian authorities extradited him to France last week. |
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