Mustapha's death

Mustapha's death

France's crackdown on immigrants has devastating consequences for its victims. The story of Mustapha Diffalah is such a case.

The November 13 judgment fell like the guillotine. Mustapha had applied for the tribunal to overturn his deportation order. "Impossible" said the tribunal, because of his two previous convictions.

Several hours later, in the small hours of the morning, this 32-year-old man walked out onto the balcony of his flat on the 29th floor where he lived with his French wife and three children. He lit a cigarette, climbed over the railing and stepped into the void.

Mustapha was born in Algeria but moved to France when he was six. His three brothers were born in France, and he married his wife Florence in 1989.

The police also knew Mustapha; as a young man growing up on the housing estates he got into trouble a few times. After his second drug conviction, he got the deportation order, but he stayed. In 1996 he was picked up for drink driving without a licence.

When the tribunal handed down its decision, Mustapha knew that there was nothing more he could do."We tried to boost his spirits", recalled his mother, Zahia Diffalah. "But he had given up. He said to me: 'Look, Mum, I wanted to make a fresh start, but they won't let me, they'd rather we hang around on the streets'."
[Translated and abridged from Libération.]

From GLW issue 277