Amanda Knox convicted in Italian court of murdering British student Meredith Kercher
Amanda Knox is led away from the final day of the Meredith Kercher murder trial in Perguia, Italy (Oli Scarff/Getty)
The trial of Amanda Knox is over in Pergugia, Italy. Charged with her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, the case touched upon all manner of issues relating to sex, morals, and nationalism. Knox was found guilty on all charges according to CNN, including murder, and sexual and other procedural charges. Her family promises a lengthy appeals process. BNO reports a sentence of 26 years for Knox. Sollecito got 25 years according to Sky News.
Flag me as one who has never really understood what this case is all about. Or rather, why anyone has ever really cared so much about it. I mean, I think I can understand why the British care – it is a British national who was murdered. The ‘Foxy Knoxy’ appellation attached to the American exchange student shows how much of this case has that British tabloid feel to it. Yet we here in America keep coming back to it.
Why? It’s not like Americans haven’t been charged with crimes overseas since this case got underway in 2007. I guess it’s the whole “studying abroad is dangerous” angle, but surely there have been other study abroad incidents as well. I think our media zeroed in on this case because it was easy. That doesn’t make it newsworthy. I don’t want to be hard-hearted, and if Knox and Sollecito have been convicted of a crime for which they are not guilty, I hope the wheels of the Italian justice system will keep turning for them. But why are we zeroed in on this case like it’s the most important thing that’s happened all week?
Meanwhile, throughout much of the duration of this case, the Italian justice system churned along on the trial of 20 US government officials, including CIA agents and an Air Force colonel, who were charged with kidnapping an alleged al Qaida member, Abu Omar. The Milan based Imam, ‘Abu Omar,’ or Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, was seized by the CIA and spirited away to Egypt where he alleges he was tortured by his Egyptian jailers, an act we refer to now as ‘extraordinary rendition.’ The trial resulted in 20 convictions in absentia of the US agents who will possibly never again be able to leave the United States, or at least travel to Europe, for fear that they might be arrested and sent to an Italian prison. It’s hard to know how much damage has been done to cooperation between the CIA and Italian and other intelligence agencies as a result of the trial.
CIA surveillance images of Abu Omar
And how much did the American media report on the Abu Omar case? Have you ever heard of it before? It’s another classic media fail where it seems like coverage of foreign affairs literally develops into coverage of sexual affairs overseas that result in murder. It’s not news, and in this case, it’s difficult to understand why it’s even entertaining.
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Women are less frequently murderers than men. If news is defined by the unusual, this qualifies on that respect alone.
I think it also touches on a fear of ever being arrested, charged tried, convicted and/or jailed by a foreign judicial system. Mistakes can happen anywhere, but somewhere far beyond your home country is a nightmare I think many people can understand.
I couldn’t agree with you more when you say “one who has never really understood what this case is all about”.
However, I think it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black when you say “The ‘Foxy Knoxy’ appellation attached to the American exchange student shows how much of this case has that British tabloid feel to it”. Of course America doesn’t have tabloids and American media doesn’t sensationalise anything!!!?
Same reason why American media is obsessed with the Tiger Woods affair.
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And how much did the American media report on the Abu Omar case? Have you ever heard of it before?
Some of the silence might be due to a sense of collective guilt that attaches to this case. It was our government. It was our CIA. Most Americans hate having to process that kind of guilt. And then of course there’s the US media, trying to very hard forget its enabling role in so much of this nastiness. From their perspective, why bring it up?