The French government went on the defensive Thursday amid questions over why its intelligence service had failed to deal with petty criminal turned alleged jihadist serial killer Mohamed Merah. With hindsight, Merah’s past appears to make him an obvious suspect — he had at least 15 criminal convictions, some with violence, had become a radical Islamist and travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He and his brother were both known to French intelligence because of their fundamentalist Salafist ideology. One press report said that in 2010 Merah forced a youth to watch videos of Al-Qaeda hostage beheadings. When the boy’s mother complained, Merah allegedly attacked her, putting her in hospital for several days. Merah allegedly later went into the street outside the women’s house, wearing military fatigues and brandishing a sword, shouting “I’m with Al-Qaeda,” the Telegramme newspaper reported.
A criminal complaint was lodged and police interviewed the woman but apparently there was no follow up. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who has been lambasting Muslim immigration as part of her presidential election campaign, was quick to accuse the government of “laxity” towards the “fundamentalist risk”. Socialist Jean-Pierre Chevenement, a former defence and interior minister, said the killings were “a warning for services in charge of anti-terrorism”.
