British authorities have not asked the French Government to extradite to Britain the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem who noted as Hitler’s and Mussolini’s agent among the Arab people until Germany’s defeat, it was reported here today. The Mufti was seized by French forces in Southern Germany.
At the same time, a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent learned that French authorities do not intend to surrender the ex-Mufti at the present time. He is living in a comfortable villa under police surveillance and is reported to be getting “excellent treatment.”
There is much speculation here as to the role which the ex-Mufti may still play in the Arab world as a result of the tense relations between France and Britain because of the situation in Syria. It is predicted by some circles that, utilizing the fact that the ex-Mufti is violently anti-British, the French authorities may use him for pro-French propaganda among the Arabs. In this connection, it is pointed out that when the ex-Mufti escaped from the British in Palestine, he was given shelter in Syria with the knowledge of the French authorities there.
The fact that the British Government has not yet asked France for the extradition of the ex-Mufti as a war criminal who headed the anti-British uprising in Iraq during the war and directed anti-British propaganda from Italy and Germany as an agent of the Axis, is taken here to mean that Britain is not particularly anxious to have him on her hands, since this would undoubtedly complicate the relations of the British Government with the Arabs in Palestine and elsewhere. As the situation stands now, it seems more convenient for Britain to have the ex-Mufti remain in French hands rather than become a problem for England.
It is difficult, for the time being, to ascertain here exactly what the status of the ex-Mufti is, and whether he is considered by the French to be a war criminal or merely a political prisoner who collaborated with Hitler. A semi-official French statement described him merely as being under house arrest in a Paris villa, and that every attention is being given him “because of his position in the Islamic world.”
(In London, competent observers told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency yesterday that they consider it possible that the ex-Mufti might suddenly reappear in the midst of the boiling Middl-Eastern nest of intrigues. It was doubted whether punishment of a drastic nature will be meted out to the ex-Mufti even if he is surrendered to the British.)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
