Jailed Torture Gang Leader Makes Anti-Semitic Video
The leader of a gang which in 2006 tortured and killed Ilan Halimi, a French Jew, was sentenced to seven more years in prison for making anti-Semitic videos while in jail.
On Feb 13., seven years to the day after Ilan Halimi died, a correctional court in Moulins found Youssouf Fofana, head of the Gang of Barbarians, whose members tortured and murdered Halimi, guilty of propagating terrorism and inciting racial hatred, Le Monde reported.
Fofana’s gang kidnapped 23-year-old Halimi in 2006 and held him for ransom, then tortured him for three weeks before he was found by police Halimi died on his way to the hospital.
Fofana was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 22 years. Last year he was put on trial again, after prison officials found videos he made calling for an “African revolt.”
Jérome Guedj, president of the local council of Essonne – the municipality south of Paris where Ilan Halimi was murdered, last week announced a new fund for fighting anti-Semitism named after Halimi. Each year the fund will give out $13,000 to three individuals who took part in the fight against anti-Semitism, he announced on Feb. 13.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
