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The Murder of Ilan Halimi A Jewish man is kidnapped in Paris, tortured for 24 days and then dies. BY NIDRA POLLER Sunday, February 26, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST PARIS--Two weeks ago a 23-year-old man initially identified as "Ilan" was found by a passerby stumbling in a field near the railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris. Handcuffed, naked, with four-fifths of his body covered with bruises, stab wounds and serious burns, Ilan died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Soon after, police provided more details. The victim had been kidnapped Jan. 20 and held...

The family of Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in an attack that appears to have been motivated in part by anti-Semitism, will not attend the demonstration against racism and anti-Semitism that is scheduled to take place in Paris on Sunday in response to the murder, but will hope for its success, the family's attorneys said Saturday. The rally - which is due to be attended by over 100,000 people and numerous public figures, including government ministers - has become controversial due to the planned participation of representatives of two right-wing political movements, the National Front and the...

Ris-Orangis, France -- Flanked by a Baptist church and a Muslim cultural center, the slate-gray synagogue in this Paris suburb is a fragile beacon of religious tolerance. A poster hangs outside, announcing an interfaith concert. The unofficial headquarters of a 2-year-old Jewish-Muslim friendship association is located inside. But among Jews in Ris-Orangis and elsewhere in France, tolerance is a scarce commodity these days. Ever since a 23-year-old Jew named Ilan Halimi was dumped -- stabbed, handcuffed, naked and dying -- near a railway line outside Paris on Feb. 13, many Jews say anti-Semitism is resurging in France. "The Jewish community...

The "bait" used to lure French Jew Ilan Halimi to the Paris suburb where he was abducted was a 16-year-old girl of Iranian descent captured by police over the weekend, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. Police officials characterized her as a "pretty girl…who attempted to seduce several Jewish youngsters before she met Halimi." The girl was detained at a Paris suburb. On Thursday, police in the Ivory Coast nabbed the main suspect in the brutal murder, Youssouf Fofana, who fled France after serving as the gang leader and presiding over the abduction, torture, and murder of the Jewish...

One day last month, a young woman entered the Paris mobile phone shop where Ilan Halimi worked. She had no interest in a phone, according to police. She wanted to flirt with the 23-year-old salesman. She left with Halimi's phone number, and soon after, the two arranged a date. Last week, French police found Halimi -- the son of Jewish Moroccan immigrants -- near a railroad track in a southern Parisian suburb. His naked body was covered with cigarette burns and he was handcuffed. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. French police initially described the...

Abidjan - A Paris gang-leader was arrested overnight in Abidjan and has confessed to the kidnap, torture and murder of a young French Jewish man, Ivorian investigators said on Thursday, in a case that has horrified France. Youssouf Fofana, 25, could be extradited back to France by the end of the day, according to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. Fofana is believed to have fled to Ivory Coast shortly after the dying Ilan Hamili was found on February 11 outside the French capital. "He has French nationality. He has been arrested by the Ivorian police. (French) police investigators are...

Excerpt; .....[The ceremony, which was held in the Grand Synagogue on rue de la Victoire, was seen by many in the Jewish community as the state leaders' formal declaration that anti-Semitism was to blame for the horrific kidnapping, torture and murder of the 23-year-old Parisian At 5 P.M., two hours before the ceremony's official opening, police cars surrounded the synagogue area. Police at roadblocks inspected the bag of everyone who entered the area. Hundreds of thousands of people crowded on either side of the street, waiting their turn to enter the synagogue. At the synagogue's entrance police used metal detectors...

More than Thousand Jews marched on Sunday in the streets of Paris, demanding justice for Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old Jewish man who was abducted, tortured and killed near Paris by an organised and dangerous gang. The spontaneous gathering failed to get support from any Jewish organization. Information on the demonstration circulated within the Jewish community through mobile phone and e-mail messages. Marchers walked down Voltaire Boulevard, past the mobile phone store where Ilan Halimi used to work and where he was approached by his killers a month ago. During the Sunday protest young demonstrators shouted “Justice for Ilan”, “revenge of...

On Jan. 21 in Paris, a gang of Muslims intent on kidnapping Jews kidnapped 23-year-old Ilan Halimi. Reciting verses from the Koran in phone conversations demanding money from the family, they ultimately rejected the money and tortured Halimi to death. They kept him naked for weeks while they cut him up and finally poured flammable liquid over his skin and burned him alive. When Jews read this story, they see themselves as Halimi and think that such a thing could happen to them somewhere in the world today and somewhere in the world at any time in the past. If...

Anti-Semitism may have played a role in the torture and murder of a young Jewish man who was kidnapped and held for ransom, French authorities said Monday. Authorities found 23-year-old Ilan Halimi naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks last Monday near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris. He died on the way to a hospital, officials said. Justice Minister Pascal Clement, speaking to reporters outside an annual meeting of France's main Jewish umbrella group, CRIF, confirmed investigators had alleged "aggravated circumstances of anti-Semitism." One 19-year-old suspect was placed under investigation - a step short of formal...

PARIS - The mother of Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old Parisian Jew who was abducted, tortured and murdered by a gang in a suburb of the capital, accuses the police of missteps that led to her son's death. She revealed to Haaretz Sunday that the police told the family to ignore the gang's attempts to contact them for five critical days, after which Ilan was found near death outside the city. She also accuses the police of ignoring the anti-Semitic motivation in the case in order not to alienate Muslims. "If Ilan hadn't been Jewish, he wouldn't have been murdered," she...

France arrests gang suspected in killing of Parisian Jew By , Haaretz Correspondent PARIS - The French police arrested late Thursday night most of the members of the gang that abducted, tortured and murdered Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jew from Paris. Hundreds of SWAT officers raided apartments in Bagneux and arrested 12 people. Another suspect was arrested in Belgium. "They acted with indescribable cruelty," the judiciary police chief leading the investigation said. "They kept him naked and tied up for weeks. They cut him and in the end poured flammable liquid on him and set him alight."

French police launched a wide-range investigation on Tuesday after a twenty three-year-old Jewish man was kidnapped and murdered. Jewish community security services have said they suspect the crime may have been motivated by anti-Semitism. Ilan Halimi was found critically wounded, naked and hand-cuffed along a railway track in the suburb of Saint Genevieve des Bois, 30 kilometres south of Paris on Monday, three weeks after he was kidnapped by a gang in Paris. The victim, who was burnt and cut on 80 percent of his body, died of his wounds as he was taken to hospital. Series of crimes Judiciary...

Ilan Halimi, 23-year-old Parisian man, found tied to tree, naked, wounded, with burns covering his body; police arrest 13 suspects, say act not motivated by anti-SemitismThe French police arrested 13 people on suspicion of kidnapping, torturing and murdering Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Parisian Jew. Halimi was found on Monday tied to a tree, naked and wounded, with burns covering all parts of his body. He died on the way to the hospital. Police officials said that the abduction and murder were apparently not motivated by anti-Semitism, but added that they have not yet discovered what led the group to commit...