Al Jazeera Won’t Air Toulouse Shooter’s Video
Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera said it had decided not to broadcast video footage of three deadly shootings in southern France filmed by an al-Qaida-inspired gunman using a camera strapped to his body, news services reported.
“Al Jazeera will not air video of French shootings,” the Qatar-based news channel said in a headline on its website, according to Reuters.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on television networks not to broadcast video footage shot by Mohammed Merah during his attacks on soldiers and on a Jewish school in Toulouse.
The edited footage was sent on a USB flash drive to Al Jazeera in Paris. Al Jazeera sent the drive to police on Monday, Reuters reported.
The package reportedly was mailed to Al Jazeera on March 21, the day that police began their siege of Merah’s Toulouse apartment. Merah was killed following a 30-hour standoff when police stormed his apartment. He was shot in the head while jumping out a window.
A letter accompanying the footage said that Merah had acted on behalf of al-Qaida, The Associated Press reported.
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