France opens inquiry into Sarah Halimi murder case

“I will do everything in my power to bring the truth to light in the Sarah Halimi case,” said Meyer Habib.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Meyer Habib, a member of the French National Assembly, announced Tuesday that he will be chairing a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the dysfunctions of the justice system and police in the case of the brutal murder of Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Jewish woman who was thrown from the window of her Paris apartment by her Muslim neighbor in 2017.

“It is with great pleasure and great emotion that I announce that the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the dysfunctions in the Halimi affair will be established in a few weeks!” Habib announced in a Facebook post.

“I will do everything in my power to bring the truth to light in the Sarah Halimi case,” he added.

Habib’s motion to create the commission of inquiry collected nearly 80 signatures from six political parties, including the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), of which Habib is a member.

However, he pointed out the glaring absence of support from the political left. “Don’t waste your time looking for a left-wing signature: there isn’t one!” he stressed.

Habib, who has long been working for justice in the Halimi case, also posted the resolution on Twitter and expressed his excitement. “Finally!” he wrote.

On April 4, 2017, Halimi was brutally beaten and thrown from her apartment window by 27-year-old Kobili Traore, her Muslim neighbor, as he shouted, “Allahu akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic).

The court ruled that Traore was not criminally responsible for the murder because he had carried it out during a psychotic episode, brought on through the prolonged use of cannabis.

In a video message to the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Virtual Global Forum on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the rage that many feel towards the court’s decision.

“I understand the emotion provoked by the recent court ruling in the case of the murder of Sarah Halimi,” said Macron.

“I would like to clarify that this decision did not, in any way, deny the anti-Semitic nature of this act,” he added.

Macron said that the minister of justice is seeking to modify the “current legal framework, where the perpetrator deliberately takes toxic substances” in order to place more responsibility on the perpetrator.

“It is indeed shocking that someone who takes drugs in order to change their mental state is not held accountable,” he concluded.