Lawyer in French terror case won't use videos

Zahia Mokhtari represents the Algerian father of Mohammed Merah, who was accused of killing seven people in southern France earlier this year.

Mokhtari has sued the French state, asserting that police shot Merah after a 32-hour standoff to keep him silent about his work for the intelligence services, but she has never publicly produced the videos.

Her decision comes in the wake of a French TV station broadcasting excerpts of audio recordings of Merah's final negotiations with police before they killed him.

Mokhtari said the broadcast was an attempt to damage her case. French authorities have said they will investigate the leaks.

"Since the French ministries of justice and the interior denounced this video (sic) of TF1, we support them," she told The Associated Press. "For our part, we have decided to not use our video because we have other arguments that will prove the truth in this affair."

She added that she was ready to send the videos to French justice as long as they promised they would not be used by the media.