French Jewish school shooting: Jihadi's brother jailed
November 2, 2017
Abdelkader Merah has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for terrorist offences. But he was cleared of complicity in the killing of seven people in Toulouse in 2012 by his brother Mohammed Merah.
"Abdelkader Merah shared his brother's motives but none of the elements in the case file or at the trial shows that he knew of the targets and crimes of his brother," Judge Franck Zientara said.
Toulouse shooting: Scars run deep
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During his eight-day rampage, 23-year-old Mohammed Merah killed three Jewish children and a teacher working in a Jewish school. He later killed three soldiers, two of whom were Muslim.
A second defendant, Fettah Malki, received 14 years imprisonment for supplying the gun, ammunition and a bulletproof vest to the attacker.
The court ordered the two men to serve two-thirds of their sentences without the possibility of parole. They have 10 days to appeal against the verdict.
Abdelkader Merah was arrested shortly after his younger brother was shot deadImage: picture-alliance/dpa
'Abdelkader Merah made Mohamed Merah'
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Abdelkader Merah, arguing that he mentored his younger brother and helped him steal the scooter used in the killings at the Jewish Ozer Hatorah School.
French attorney general Naima Rudloff argued that there was no doubt the older brother mentored his sibling.
"Abdelkader Merah made Mohamed Merah," she said.
Abdelkader Merah denied any involvement and demanded acquittal, accusing public prosecutors of making him a scapegoat as they could no longer pursue his brother.
On the radar
Abdelkader had been on the radar of intelligence services since 2006 for his closeness to radical Islamist cells.
During the probe into the Toulouse killings, Abdelkader told the investigators that he was "proud" of Mohammed for dying as a fighter, and that "every Muslim would like to give his life to kill his enemy."
Despite expressing pride over his brother, Abdelkader condemned the killings and denied his role.
Mass shootings at concerts, clubs worldwide
The Las Vegas mass shooting is not the first to target concertgoers or the party crowd at a club. Attacks in France, Turkey and the UK also made headlines.
Image: Reuters/M.Blake
Las Vegas, US
On October 1, 2017, A local Nevada retiree carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, killing 59 people and wounding hundreds more at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas massacre is just the latest in a string of mass shootings in the US this year.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images
Orlando, US
Before the attack in Las Vegas, the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016 was believed to be the deadliest in modern US history. Twenty-nine-year-old gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring dozens more.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. George Wilson
Paris, France
The US band Eagles of Death Metal were performing at the Bataclan in Paris on November 13, 2015 when gunmen stormed the concert venue. A total of 130 people were killed that night, including 89 at the Bataclan, in coordinated attacks by several groups of gunmen and suicide bombers at various locations throughout the French capital. The "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for the violence.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Ruszniewski
Istanbul, Turkey
A shooting during New Year's Eve celebrations at Istanbul's popular Reina nightclub on January 1, 2017 left 39 people dead and dozens more wounded. The "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for the attack that was carried out by a gunman from Uzbekistan. He was arrested just days later. The trial is still pending.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/E.Gurel
Manchester, UK
A homemade bomb detonated on May 22, 2017 as concertgoers, including children, were leaving an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. Twenty-two people, as well as the bomber, were killed, and roughly 250 more were injured. Police said 22-year-old Salman Abedi had acted alone but that others had been aware of his plans.
On July 24, 2016, a Syrian refuge blew himself up in Ansbach in southern Germany, injuring more than a dozen people. The 27-year-old Syrian man, who had been denied entry to an open-air music festival because he did not have a ticket, detonated his bomb outside a wine bar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
Nürburg, Germany - a precaution
At Germany's Rock am Ring music festival, authorities suspected a terror plot possibly linked with local Islamists in the western state of Hesse when they were unable to identify two Syrian workers. As a precautionary measure, all 87,000 festivalgoers were evacuated from the concert grounds on opening night, June 2, 2017. It turned out to be a false alarm - the workers' names were misspelled.
