Fury as Toulouse Killer Mohamed Merah’s Words Broadcast
French police have launched an investigation into how a TV channel came to broadcast recordings of conversations between the Islamist killer Mohamed Merah and police.
The dialogue, recorded during the siege in Toulouse in which Merah died, was played by the TF1 channel on Sunday.
Relatives of Merah’s victims were “outraged” that the exchanges had been broadcast, their lawyers said.
Merah, 23, killed three soldiers and four Jews in several attacks in March.
He was shot dead after a huge manhunt culminated in a 32-hour stand-off with police at an apartment in the southwestern city of Toulouse. The Jewish victims included three children murdered at a school.
Merah’s rampage, from 11 to 19 March, terrorised the region.
France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls condemned the decision by TF1 to broadcast audio clips of the negotiations, saying it showed a lack of respect to relatives of the victims.
He also regretted that they were run at a time when court proceedings relating to the killings were still ongoing.