FRENCH VERDICT OVERTURNS AL-DURA LIBEL CASE BUT CONTINUES TO FUEL THE CONSPIRACY
May 22nd 2008 14:12
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday the French Court of Appeals found in favour of Jewish activist Philippe Karsenty, overturning a lower court decision that he had libeled France 2 and its Jerusalem correspondent Charles Enderlin when he accused them of knowingly misleading the watching world about the death of the Palestinian child Muhammad al-Dura in the Gaza Strip in 2000.
Al-Dura was filmed cowering with his father, Jalal, behind a barrel at the Gaza Strip's Netzarim junction on September 30, 2000, during an apparent gun battle between Palestinians and Israel troops, before being shot to death.
The saga has prompted an ongoing conspiracy-style argument, often verging on the hysterical, mostly over the blogosphere. Australian journalist David Langsam wrote in the January 2008 issue of Australian Rationalist magazine that, “Princess Di’s death in Paris has generated a weird wild web of conspiracy theories, matched only by the Who-killed-Mohammed-al-Dura?- case currently before the French courts…
“Following a dubious reinvestigation, a campaign was begun to impugn the facts and in November 2004 Karsenty wrote on his Media Ratings web site that al-Dura's death had been staged and that France 2's conduct ‘disgraces France and its public broadcasting system.’ There are now so many web pages devoted to the conspiracy theory it is hard to find the original stories.”
Karsenty, head of an online media commentary site, had appealed a 2006 decision which found libellous his statement that the station's Israel correspondent had orchestrated images which later became a symbol for Palestinian militants.
In February, Karsenty presented judges with new evidence including a ballistics report and footage from other sources, which he said proved 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura's death had been staged.
The court said in its ruling the new footage “did not allow ruling out the opinion of France 2 professionals,” but it also rejected claims by state prosecutor Antoine Bartoli that the new evidence was “neither complete nor serious.”
Francis Szpiner, France 2's lead lawyer, said he was disappointed with the decision but pointed to “nuances” in the ruling and said his clients would take the case to France's highest appeals court.
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