Hamida Djandoubi (; 22 September 1949 – 10 September 1977) was a Tunisian convicted murderer sentenced to death in France. He moved to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in 1968, and six years later he was convicted of the

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of 21-year-old Élisabeth Bousquet. Sentenced to death in February 1977, he was executed by

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

in September that year. He was the last person to be lawfully executed by beheading anywhere in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

. Marcel Chevalier served as chief executioner. (French)

Early life

Born in Tunisia on 22 September 1949, Djandoubi started living in Marseille in 1968, where he worked in a grocery store. He later worked as a

landscaper Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # organism, Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with ...

but had a workplace accident in 1971: his leg got caught in the tracks of a tractor, resulting in the loss of two-thirds of his right leg.Cédric Condom, ''Le Dernier Guillotiné''
Planète+ Justice, 2011 (French)

Allegation of forced prostitution

In 1973, a 21-year-old woman named Élisabeth Bousquet, whom Djandoubi had met in the hospital while recovering from his

amputation Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malign ...

, filed a complaint against him, stating that he had tried to force her into prostitution.

Murder of Élisabeth Bousquet

After his arrest and eventual release from custody during the spring of 1973, Djandoubi drew two other young girls into his confidence and then forced them into prostitution for him. On 3 July 1974, he kidnapped Bousquet and took her into his home where, in full view of the terrified girls, he beat the woman before stubbing a lit cigarette all over her breasts and genital area. Bousquet survived the ordeal so he took her by car to the outskirts of Marseille and strangled her there. On his return, Djandoubi warned the two girls to say nothing of what they had seen. Bousquet's body was discovered in a shed by a boy on 7 July 1974. One month later, Djandoubi kidnapped another girl who managed to escape and report him to police.

Trial and execution

After a lengthy pre-trial process, Djandoubi eventually appeared in court in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

on charges of torture-murder,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

, and premeditated violence on 24 February 1977. His main defence revolved around the supposed effects of the loss of his leg six years earlier, which his lawyer claimed had driven him to a paroxysm of

alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of alcohol-related substance abuse. This spectrum can range from being mild, moderate, or severe. This can look like consumption of more than 2 drinks per day on average for men, or more than 1 drink per ...

and violence that had turned him into "a different man". On 25 February, he was sentenced to death. An

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

was rejected on 9 June. On 10 September 1977, Djandoubi was informed early in the morning that, as in the child murderers cases of Christian Ranucci (executed on 28 July 1976) and Jérôme Carrein (executed on 23 June 1977), he had not received a reprieve from President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Shortly afterwards, at 4:40 a.m., Djandoubi was executed by

at Baumettes Prison in

. While Djandoubi was the last person executed in France, he was not the last condemned. (French) Fifteen defendants were sentenced to die before capital punishment was abolished in France on 9 October 1981 following the election of François Mitterrand, and those previously sentenced had their sentences commuted. (French) Djandoubi's death was the last time any Western nation carried out an execution by beheading, as well as the most recent government-sanctioned guillotine execution in the world.

References

External links

Various photos, newspaper articles, and court documents related to the Djandoubi case
{{DEFAULTSORT:Djandoubi, Hamida 1949 births 1977 deaths French amputees 20th-century French criminals 20th-century Tunisian criminals French people convicted of murder Executed French people French pimps Tunisian kidnappers People convicted of assault People convicted of murder by France People executed by the French Fifth Republic by guillotine People executed for murder Criminals from Marseille Tunisian people convicted of murder Tunisian people executed abroad Tunisian amputees People convicted of torture Businesspeople from Marseille