Weekly roundup of world briefs
Kerry denies claim he informed Iran of Israeli strikes in Syria
(JNS) U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry on Monday denied allegations that he had discussed covert Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria with Iran’s foreign minister.
“I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened either when I was Secretary of State or since,” Kerry tweeted on Monday night.
Kerry was responding to a leaked audio recording of a closed-door discussion involving Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and an Iranian economist, in whi.
Sarah Halimi: How killer on drugs escaped French trial for anti-Semitic murder
By Hugh Schofield
image copyrightAFP
image captionThousands of protesters demanded justice for Sarah Halimi and the government says it will work to change the law
Can an anti-Semitic killer be declared insane because his mind was affected by regular consumption of cannabis? That is the question at the heart of an explosive legal row in France following the decision not to prosecute the man who killed Sarah Halimi.
Sarah Halimi was a Jewish, 65-year-old, former kindergarten director, who in April 2017 was beaten, then thrown to her death from her flat in north-east Paris.
30 Apr 2021
A judge has turned in his judicial robes in protest at the decision not to try a Malian migrant alleged to have beaten an elderly Jewish woman and thrown her to her death from a balcony while shouting “Allah Akbar!” on grounds that he was suffering from a delirious episode induced by heavy cannabis abuse.
France’s Court of Cassation ruled that Kobili Traoré, previously reported to be a convicted drug dealer, could not be held criminally responsible for Sarah Halimi’s killing due to his mental condition at the time.
“When the judgment was delivered and the Court of Cassation confirmed that Kobili Traoré, the murderer of Sarah Halimi, was made inaccessible to any criminal sanction, my first reaction as a judge was to say to myself ‘I’m dreaming! ” lamented Jack Broda, who sat on the bench of the Tribunal of Commerce, in an interview with FigaroVox.