Six people who hid in a supermarket refrigerator during January's Islamist attacks in Paris have sued French media for broadcasting their location live during the siege.
Images broadcast from the scene on January 9, when gunman Amedy Coulibaly stormed into the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket, killing four and taking others hostage, "lacked the most basic precautions" and endangered those still alive inside, said a lawyer representing the group, Patrick Klugman.
Klugman singled out French 24-hour news channel BFMTV, which revealed live on air that the group -- including a three-year-old child and a one-month-old baby -- was hiding from Coulibaly in the cold room, where they were taken by one of the supermarket's employees.
"The working methods of media in real time in this type of situation were tantamount to goading someone to commit a crime," Klugman told AFP Thursday, roundly criticising coverage by other outlets of security forces movements during the standoff.
The lives of those hiding "could have been at risk if Coulibaly had been aware in real time what BFMTV was broadcasting," Klugman said, adding that the jihadist was following the coverage of his raid on different channels and had been in contact with BFMTV journalists.
The heavily televised events at Hyper Cacher in eastern Paris came two days after Cherif and Said Kouachi shot 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. All three gunmen were killed after three days of attacks that killed a total of 17 people and deeply shocked France.
The lawsuit charges media outlets with endangering the lives of others by deliberately ignoring security protocols, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and 15,000-euro ($16,300) fine.
GMT 08:51 2018 Tuesday ,11 December
Reuters reporters clock up one year in detention in Myanmar prisonGMT 16:48 2018 Wednesday ,24 October
Erdogan, Saudi crown prince discuss Khashoggi caseGMT 12:32 2018 Tuesday ,23 October
British show double standards over Khashoggi's caseGMT 14:35 2018 Friday ,12 October
Bahrain's media history documentation hailedGMT 06:48 2018 Friday ,05 October
"Sanwar" Israeli journalist introduced herself as ItalianGMT 05:38 2018 Friday ,05 October
New round of "meddling and cyber attack" accusationsGMT 04:42 2018 Friday ,28 September
Iran mocked for billboard featuring Israeli soldiersGMT 05:08 2018 Thursday ,20 September
Mona Al Marri outlines essential qualities of successful journalistsMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor