Q&A: Sarah Halimi
Sarah Halimi
Question
Hello Rabbi, have you heard about what is happening now in France regarding Sarah Halimi, a 70-year-old Jewish woman who was killed by a man who had taken drugs and shouted in Arabic "Allahu akbar," and in France they said that he would not be charged and would not go to prison because since he had taken drugs he was not aware of what he was doing. What do you think about this? Can voluntary lack of awareness (that is, he put himself into a state where he would not be aware) clear the guilty person? Is the morality of an act measured by the awareness of the person doing it?
Answer
This is a legal question, not a moral one. Morality is certainly measured by awareness. A person who causes harm under duress while asleep is not acting immorally. But of course, if he bears some contributory guilt, such as negligence, then he has responsibility—both moral and criminal.
In this case, as you describe it (I have not heard about it), it seems that he definitely has contributory guilt: 1. He lives in an antisemitic value-atmosphere and adopted those values himself (the fact is that he murdered specifically a Jewish woman), and he took drugs and thereby put himself into a dangerous situation with his own hands.
It sounds very strange to me that a person who committed a crime while under the influence of drugs would not be charged. In traffic accidents and other crimes, that is no excuse at all, as far as I know. I am not sure that your description of the case is precise. One has to remember that opinions in the press and online do not always reflect the reality and the full legal considerations.
Thank you for the answer, I understand. Search online in Hebrew or in English as well for Sarah Halimi, and you will see there that one man beat her at night, and afterward threw her out the window from the third floor—the plain truth! But the court in France did not charge him and did nothing to him (at least nothing sufficient) because he had taken drugs and so was not aware! This created a huge emotional uproar and a crisis in France; everyone is talking about it now. Maybe look online and you will find it. It is very frightening… where did justice go?