French Trial of Gang Members Accused of Anti-Semitic Torture Is Closed To Press

In France, a court has made the controversial decision to bar journalists from the trial of gang members accused of kidnapping and torturing to death a 23-year-old French Jew, Ilan Halimi. (Background.) A report yesterday by JTA says that Halimi's family and the French Jewish community want the trial opened in order to raise awareness of anti-Semitism in France. However, because two of the 27 defendants were juveniles in 2006 when the crimes were committed, French law permits the trial to be closed. Apparently members of the Barbarians gang targeted Halimi because they believed Jews would be worth a large ransom. One of the questions in the trial of the gang's leader, Youssour Fofna, is whether this constitutes a crime based on Halimi's religion or ethnicity. Author Alexandre Lévy says: "Politically it's very delicate in France to be the first to talk about anti-Semitism. It's like the nuclear button."