Posted on 12/12/2001 10:40:37 AM PST by mdittmar
France demanded on Wednesday that the United States not execute a Frenchman charged with plotting the September 11 attacks even if a U.S. federal court finds Zacarias Moussaoui guilty on terrorism charges.
Highlighting possible tensions between Washington and its European partners in the campaign against terrorism, Justice Minister Marylise Lebranchu said Paris would not accept the death penalty for Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent.
"Of course, no person benefiting from French consular protection should be executed," she told RMC radio.
France, like virtually every European country, no longer has a death penalty, having scrapped the guillotine in 1981.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed that France would take steps to ensure Massaoui was not executed if convicted.
"That stems from our general position on the death penalty," he told a regular news briefing.
A leading French human rights group urged the government to protect Moussaoui from execution and give him legal aid.
"Today more than ever, France must confirm its commitment to stand against the death penalty," Michel Taube, president of the group Together Against the Death Penalty, said in a statement.
Seeking to calm European fears that terrorism suspects extradited to the United States would inevitably risk the death penalty, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news conference in London each case would be examined separately.
Previous executions of European citizens in the United States have provoked public outcry in Europe and some governments have been reluctant to extradite suspects across the Atlantic without guarantees they will not be put to death.
MOTHER'S PLEA Moussaoui, 33, took flying lessons in the United States and officials there believe he may have been preparing to join one of four hijacking teams that struck New York and Washington.
After the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which killed almost 3,300 people, Moussaoui was arrested as a material witness and sent to New York for questioning.
An indictment released on Tuesday charged Moussaoui with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, to commit aircraft piracy, to destroy aircraft, to use weapons of mass destruction, to murder U.S. employees and to destroy property.
He will be tried in a federal court and not in a military tribunal that has been proposed by President Bush for foreigners suspected of involvement in the attacks.
U.N. Security Council member France has voiced opposition to such tribunals, one of several differences between Paris and Washington on how to proceed in the crackdown against terror.
French officials have said they could not support any widening of military action beyond Afghanistan, host to bin Laden's al Qaeda network, without clear evidence of terrorist activity and without a U.N. mandate.
Moussaoui's mother was quoted on Wednesday saying her son wrote to her several weeks ago protesting his innocence and fearing he would not receive a fair trial.
"Zacarias warned me in his letter that they were going to fabricate proofs, produce witnesses against him," his mother Aicha told Le Parisien daily of a letter sent some weeks ago.
"In that case, what can you do to prove the contrary? Because my son says he too has evidence (of his innocence)...I hope he will have the chance to defend himself."
Point being, that is a cool phrase.
They may very well surrender to us, and force the US to dump billions of dollars into squaring their country away again.
Also, it is wrong to be French
Oh! Oh! Nomination for Quote of the Day!
FRANCE DEMANDS THAT SERBS HAND OVER DOWNED PILOTS
FRANCE DEMANDS ACCESS TO GREEN ELECTRICITY
FRANCE DEMANDS EU Report on American Espionage System
FRANCE DEMANDS $300M francs from Watchtower for back taxes
FRANCE DEMANDS no English-only web sites
FRANCE DEMANDS more respect than Uganda
FRANCE DEMANDS more from Kabila than an authorization for a U.N. mission to investigate the Rwandan refugees
FRANCE DEMANDS that Brussels should step up measures of prevention in the EU
.
They appear to be a very demanding lot, don't they?
Perhaps the article was written by a French reporter with English as his/her second language who didn't understand the connotation in English of 'demand'.
France demands?
FRANCE DEMANDS???
Ya know, I will say that more often than not, France has stood with the U.S. when it counted. And for those fans of the film THE PATRIOT, myself included, never forget whose fleet bottled up Cornwallis.
But....in this case, I feel perfectly justified in saying TELL THOSE PASTY-FACED, SNAIL-EATING, SNOT-NOSED, JERRY LEWIS-WORSHIPPING, STUPID BERET-WEARING, NO TESTICLE-HAVING, STINKY, STUPID, SURRENDER-EVEN-BEFORE-THE-HAT-DROPS PEPE LE PEW WANNABES TO SHUT THE @#$%^&** UP!!!
LOL!!! although i think 'mange-moi' would be the preferable form. (i would not have the guts to say this to someone who i was not familiar with.)
Hop back to the pond little frogs and make some more wine and cheese. Leave this to the adults.
"...Let's not ruin Miller Time. Let's make it great!"
"(...) Bien évidemment, aucune personne bénéficiant de la protection consulaire française ne doit être exécutée", a-t-elle déclaré sur RMC-Info.
"'Obviously, no one benefitting from French consular protection must not be executed,' she declared on RMC-Info."
The use of 'demand' in the Anglophone press is an interpretation of 'must not be executed' and not a mistranslation of 'demander,' which as you point out means 'to ask.'
The quote was pulled from Yahoo.fr news.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.