
Tunisian Man Killed in France, Family Seeks Justice
TUNIS: The sister of a Tunisian man shot dead in France called for justice on Tuesday, saying her brother was on a video call with family when he was killed.
Hichem Miraoui, 46, was killed on Saturday in Puget-sur-Argens in southern France when a neighbour shot him five times.
'I want justice for my brother, the victim of a terrorist act,' Hanen Miraoui said in a telephone call from France, where she lives.
She urged Tunisian authorities to 'stand by Tunisians in France and closely follow the case so that justice is done for my brother'.
She said Hichem was in a video call with family, including their mother in Tunisia, when he was shot.
'We were discussing Eid preparations,' she said. 'He was joking with our sick mother when I heard him grunt and the call ended.'
The suspect, now in police custody, had posted two racist videos online and intended to 'disturb public order through terror', a source close to the investigation told AFP.
French authorities said he had also wounded another neighbour, a Turkish national.
France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor confirmed a suspect had been detained on Monday.
Hanen said the suspect 'was known in my brother's neighbourhood for his hatred of Arabs'.
She said six weeks before his death, Hichem found graffiti on his Vespa reading 'dirty Arab'.
He will be buried in their hometown of Kairouan in central Tunisia, she added.
Tunisian Interior Minister Khaled Nouri condemned the killing in a phone call with his French counterpart Bruno Retailleau, calling it a 'terrorist' act.
He said it caused 'deep outrage and sorrow among the Tunisian public' and stressed 'the need to protect the Tunisian community in France'.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
43 minutes ago
- The Sun
Mexico's flag becomes lightning rod in Los Angeles protests
LOS ANGELES: The Mexican flag has become a flashpoint during protests in Los Angeles this week, waved by demonstrators proud of their heritage but cast by US President Donald Trump's administration as heralding a 'foreign invasion.' For five days now protesters have held small and largely peaceful rallies against immigration raids in the sprawling city, as the rest of Los Angeles carried on largely as normal with red carpet premieres, awards shows, traffic and tourists. But there have been some eyecatching -- albeit isolated and sporadic -- incidents of violence that produced dramatic images of protesters flying Mexican flags during clashes with law enforcement under smoke-filled skies. It is those images that Trump and officials in his administration have seized on to help justify his extraordinary step of deploying thousands of US troops to the California city over the strident objection of local officials. 'The only flag that will wave triumphant over the streets of Los Angeles is the American flag -- so help me God,' the president told cheering soldiers Tuesday at Fort Bragg army base in North Carolina. Republicans lined up behind Trump to frame the protests as an invasion, with the Mexican flag as its symbol and the demonstrators as insurrectionists. 'Look at all the foreign flags. Los Angeles is occupied territory,' top White House migration advisor Stephen Miller posted on X over footage of the demonstrations. It is not illegal to fly foreign flags in the United States under the US Constitution's First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. But the Mexican flag has at times been a lightning rod in Los Angeles, the unofficial capital of the Mexican diaspora in the United States. In 1994 the green, white and red banner was also waved by protesters as a sign of solidarity against legislation seeking to bar undocumented migrants from services including education and health care. Then as now, it was seen by some as a symbol of anti-American defiance, becoming so polarizing that it helped to get the legislation passed, argues Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist who studies Latino voting trends. 'So it is a little bit odd to see the same strategy being used when it misfired so badly last time,' Madrid, who authored the recent book 'The Latino Century', told AFP. 'Great irony' Protesters who spoke to US media this week, including those who said they were American citizens, said they were waving the flag to show pride in their heritage and solidarity with those facing deportation. Diana Mena, a 28-year-old US citizen with Mexican parents, said she had family in the US military 'As much as I understand that we had a privilege to come here, I feel like it's very important to know where we came from,' she told AFP on Tuesday. 'I benefit from being in a place that has been able to provide me an opportunity to be able to advance, but that doesn't mean I'll ever forget my roots and my culture.' The strategist Madrid, who himself is of Mexican heritage, argues the ability for people to be proud of both cultures presents a paradox for Trump, after the Latino community's rightward shift helped propel him to victory in 2024. That shift comes as more Latinos are born in the country rather than arriving as immigrants, transforming them into working-class voters rather than an ethnic minority, he said. 'The idea that we will respond... to an ethnic appeal over an economic or pocketbook appeal, is very very misguided, it's really a relic of the 1990s,' he told AFP. Many Latinos support Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants and illegal migration to the United States. But the Latino vote is never cohesive 'unless the community perceives itself to be under attack... It's very clear who the president is attacking here,' Madrid said. 'The great irony is they're all moving towards him... That speaks to the dysfunction of the shrinking white Republican non-college-educated voter. Nativism animates the Republican Party's base.' A police officer at the US Capitol in Washington told CBS News it made no sense for Republicans to be outraged over Mexican flags at the LA protests. He invoked the image of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 carrying the banner of the rebel Southern states who fought the United States during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. 'They don't remember the Confederate flags on January 6?'


The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Macron to push for ban on social media for under-15s after school stabbing
FILE PHOTO: France's President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks during the presentation of the European Ocean Pact during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, June 9, 2025. Laurent Cipriani/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron said he would push for European Union regulation to ban social media for children under the age of 15 after a fatal stabbing at a school in eastern France, the latest such violent attack that left the country reeling. Macron said in an interview late on Tuesday that he hoped to see results within the next few months. "If that does not work, we will start to do it in France. We cannot wait," he told the France 2 public broadcaster, hours after a fatal stabbing at a middle school in Nogent, Haute-Marne. Police questioned a 14-year-old student on Tuesday over the knifing of a 31-year-old school aide during a bag search for weapons. Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told parliament the incident was not an isolated case. Macron said social media was one of the factors to blame for violence among young people. Writing on social media platform X after the interview, Macron said such regulation was backed by experts. "Platforms have the ability to verify age. Do it," he wrote. Macron's comments come amid a wave of measures in countries around the world aimed at curbing social media use among children. Australia last year approved a social media ban for under-16s after an emotive public debate, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech. Although most social media do not allow children under 13 to use their platforms, a report by Australia's online safety regulator found children easily bypass such restrictions. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Richard Lough and Alex Richardson)


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Toxic Thailand rivers pinned on Myanmar mines
CHIANG RAI: A sprawling new mine is gouged into the lush rolling hills of northeast Myanmar, where civil war has weakened the government's already feeble writ, and pollution levels are rising downstream in Thailand. The complex is one of around a dozen extraction operations that have sprung up in Shan state since around 2022, in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of conflict-wracked Myanmar's largest and best-equipped ethnic armed groups. A few kilometres away across the border, locals and officials in Thailand believe toxic waste is washing downstream from the mines into the Kok River, which flows through the kingdom's far north on its way to join the mighty Mekong. Thai authorities say they have detected abnormally high arsenic levels in their waterways, which could pose a risk to aquatic life and the people further up the food chain. The price fisherman Sawat Kaewdam gets for his catch has fallen by almost half, he says, because locals fear contamination. 'They say, 'There's arsenic. I don't want to eat that fish',' he told AFP. Tests in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai by a government pollution agency found levels of the toxic element as high as 49 microgrammes per litre (mcg/l) of river water -- nearly five times international drinking water standards. Experts say that while the effects on human health would not be visible immediately, the fish-heavy local diet risks a cumulative impact over several years. 'We already know where the contamination is coming from,' says fisherman Sawat. 'They should go fix it at the source.' Fivefold rise Pianporn Deetes, campaign director of the International Rivers NGO, blames the arsenic levels on Shan state's unlicensed mines, which operate outside any regulation or control by the central government. It was Thailand's 'largest-ever case of transboundary pollution', she added. The mines are believed to be run by Chinese companies with close links to the UWSA, whose members themselves have longstanding ties to China, speak Mandarin and use China's yuan currency. It is unclear whether the mines are digging for gold, rare earths or a variety of minerals, and it is also difficult to gauge the size of an industry operating in a secretive grey zone. But videos on Chinese social media suggest much of what is produced in Myanmar ends up being sold to Chinese buyers. In a report Tuesday citing Chinese customs data, think tank ISP-Myanmar said the country was the source of around two-thirds of China's rare earth imports by value. The Asian giant had imported five times as much rare earths from Myanmar in the four years since the 2021 military coup than in the equivalent preceding period, it added. Many modern mines use a system of tailing ponds to reuse leftover waste and water and stop it being released into rivers, said Tanapon Phenrat of Naresuan University's civil engineering department. But 'in Myanmar, they reportedly discharge it directly into natural waterways', he added, increasing the risk of contamination spreading into the food chain. 'What we need is for mines to treat their waste properly and stop discharging toxic substances into shared waterways.' AFP was unable to reach UWSA officials for comment. 'Legal and orderly' From its Myanmar headwaters, the 285-kilometre (177-mile) Kok River is a vital resource for thousands of people as it wends through Chiang Rai province on its way to feed the Mekong. In Chiang Rai City, a tranquil place popular with tourists, environmentalists dressed as wart-afflicted fish dance in protest. The Thai government has proposed building a dam to prevent contaminated water from entering the country, but campaigners say physical barriers alone cannot stop pollution. Bangkok acknowledges that Myanmar's junta may be unable to stop Chinese companies operating mines in militia-controlled areas. And Chonthicha Jangrew of Thailand's parliamentary foreign affairs committee met senior Beijing officials last month, urging them to supervise Chinese mining firms 'in order to stop the impact on people downstream', she said. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok posted on Facebook Sunday that it had instructed Chinese companies 'to comply with the laws of the host country and to conduct their business in a legal and orderly fashion at all times'. The Myanmar junta did not respond to questions from AFP. 'The water isn't beyond saving yet,' said Tanapon of Naresuan University. 'But this is a clear signal,' he added. 'We need to act now.'