Well, waddya know. The hitherto unthinkable has happened in the al Durah libel appeal in Paris (see here and here for previous entries). The court has actually demanded that France 2 hand over the unplayed 27 minutes of tape. Nidra Poller reports:

Appellate Court Presiding judge Laurence Trébucq has demanded that France 2 hand over the 27-minutes of raw footage shot on the afternoon of September 30, 2000 by Talal Abu Rahmeh. France 2 lawyer Maïtre Bénédicte Amblard tried to convince the judge that the request was not appropriate, relevant, necessary or even advisable. But the judge wants to see the outtakes with her own eyes. This is the first time the French court has made such a demand that would be normal in the US system. The court will now be able to determine if the Al Dura shooting and tape was a fake, as many have alleged. Maître Amblard was not able to reach her clients to confirm availability of the footage. Today’s hearing was adjourned. The next hearing is scheduled on November 14th… to view the raw footage.

Since this footage is said to show a total absence of evidence that Mohammed al Durah was killed as well as much evidence that the whole thing was a staged theatrical stunt, thus showing that France 2 connived at a terrible collective libel which was directly responsible for the deaths of countless innocents, this is an electrifying development.

From Nidra Poller’s account, it appears that France 2 was stunned by this turn of events. Will we now find that the 27 minutes have mysteriously been lost, I wonder?