Dad of Toulouse Murderer Mohamed Merah Wants To Sue France For His Son's Death

Mohamed Benalel Merah, the father of 23-year-old Islamist al-Qaeda devotee Mohamed Merah (the 'Toulouse Massacre' murderer) has decided he wants his son's body to be buried in Algeria.

“(God willing), I have decided to bury my son in Algeria.  [snip] Mohamed has an Algerian passport and has been listed with the (Algerian) consulate in Toulouse since his birth."

Good riddance. 

He also has said he intends on suing France for shooting his son instead of 'taking him alive.' 

“France is a big country that had the means to take my son alive. They could have knocked him out with gas and taken him in,” he said. “They preferred to kill him.”

“I will hire the biggest named lawyers and work for the rest of my life to pay (their) costs. I will sue France for killing my son.”

What?  I realize parents of murderers and criminals are often in denial about the evil their kids commit (unless of course he condones what his reprobate son did) but, come on. He jumped off the balcony in a blaze of gunfire (his weapon) after a 32 hour standoff and refusing to surrender. Anti-terror prosecutor Francois Molins claimed that Merah basically said it's me or them, adding “If it’s me, who cares? I’ll go to paradise.” Good luck with those 72 virgins.

What's interesting, though, is in the past he had no aspirations for martyrdom. According to Molins  Merah said " he does not have a suicidal spirit, he did not have a martyr's soul, he preferred to kill and remain alive."  Things changed, I guess, once he was cornered.  Apparently, and all he wanted was to bring "France to its knees."  Molins also said that "He expressed no regret apart from not having had enough time to kill more victims." 

It's quite obvious Merah was a sick pup (he taped all 3 attacks), with a checkered, criminal past.

Two years ago, Merah "held" a 15-year-old boy in his apartment and forced him to watch videos of al Qaeda beheadings. When confronted by his mother, he assaulted her -- and she made a report to police. French media report that after the incident Merah donned military fatigues and yelled "I'm al Qaeda" in the street near the woman's house. By then, he already had multiple convictions for minor offenses, and several jail sentences.

France also knew about his travels (twice) to Waziristan/Afghanistan, where Merah claims he had contact with al-Qaeda and where he received his training.  He was even arrested in Afghanistan, and U.S. troops shipped him back to France. As a result he wound up on a U.S. 'no-fly-list.' So why was there no continuous surveillance on this guy and his brother, who both happened to belong to a Salafi group in Toulouse? French police said they were monitoring Merah and older brother Abdelkader (29) for extremist views, but they obviously didn't do a very good job. And how did he amass all those weapons found in his car: 'an Uzi, Sten pistol, revolver and pump action rifle'?

Although Abdelkader is said to have praised his brothers actions: the murder of 3 French paratroopers (several of whom were Muslim) and 4 French/Israelis (a Rabbi and 3 young children) apparently in retaliation for the French 'Burqa Ban', France's presence in Afghanistan and for the death of Palestinian children, he now denies it.  He also denies he had anything to do with the murders, but police aren't buying it.  So, in the meantime, he is being charged with complicity.

As a result, France's Sarkozy is planning to crack down on repeat visitors to extremist jihadi websites.  A little too late for Merah's 7 innocent victims, but at least it's a step in the right direction, and something every civilized country should consider.

As for suing France, good luck with that!

Other sources: TelegraphUK, The Australian,