The murder of Samuel Paty, a gymnasium teacher took place on the 16th October in Conflias-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb of Paris. Paty was brutally decapitated by a Muslim terrorist. The perpetrator, Abdlullakh Abouyedovich Anzonov, was an 18-year-old Russian born refugee of Chechnyan descent. Anzonov was killed by the police minutes later.
The motive for the murder was that Paty had shown to his pupils,
in class, whilst talking about freedom of speech, cartoons of Charlie Hebdo, including one which depicted the Prophet Muhammed naked.
The French president Emmanuel Macron said it was a typical
Islamist terrorist attack and “that our compatriot was killed for teaching
children freedom of speech." The murder
was one of several terrorist attacks in France recently. Several Islamic countries and leaders as well
as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation denounced the act.
Samuel Paty was born in 1973, he was married and had a
five-year-old son. He was a teacher
of history, geography and civics. He
taught in College-Bois-d’Aulne, located in Conflans-Sainte Honorine. He was extremely well informed and very popular with his pupils.
Paty taught morality, civics and freedom of expression, in accordance with the French educational curriculum. Before showing the caricatures Paty had
invited Muslim students to leave the classroom if they so wished. According to a student, he had previously
shown these cartoons as part of the discussion, every year, since the Charlie
Hebdo shooting 2016. For the devout
Muslims any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous.
Brahim Chnina, a female student’s father, accused Paty of disseminating
pornography to students and filed a criminal complaint with the police. Paty reciprocated by filing a complaint about
defamation of character.
According to Facebook, Chnina claimed that Paty had shown
the above caricatures, so in retaliation, he gave the school address. He also encouraged other parents to join him
in the action against the teacher, whom he described as a thug.
The Grande Mosque de Pantin published a video on its Facebook
page, a week before the murder. The Imam
of the mosque accompanied the parent in his protests against the teacher, for showing the caricatures, and asked to see the school’s
principal to demand Paty's expulsion from the school. The videos were quickly taken down after the murder.
Minutes after the murder Anzorov posted Paty’s severed head on Twitter. The photo was posted with a threat: “In the name of Allah, the most gracious and merciful …to Macron leader of the infidels. I executed one of your hellhounds who dared to belittle Muhamad, try to calm your comrades before a harsh punishment is inflicted on you.” Brutally barbaric acts and threats by religious fanatics.
Sixteen people were taken into custody for investigation.
Also, arrested were an Islamist militant, Abdel Hakim Sefriani, the father of
the girl in Paty’s class and four students who are suspected of being paid by
the killer in order to identify the teacher.
French Minister of Education
Besides President Macron’s reaction, already given above, the French Minister of Education called the murder “An attack on the French nation as a whole” and the President of the Secondary School Teaching Union said that “teachers were devastated but would not be cowed”. France’s anti-terrorist prosecutor said that the teacher was “assassinated for teaching and the attack was an assault on the freedom of expression."
Charlie Hebdo issued a statement expressing it’s “horror and
revolt” and gave its support to Paty’s family and friends. Carlie Hebdo has also satirised the Catholic Church but there were no reactions except a publication in "L'observatore Romano" a Vatican newspaper, that criticised Charlie Hebdo's first page which depicted God holding a Kalashnikov.
French police announced that there were more than 80
messages on social media from French people supporting the attacker. I always admired the French for their sensitivity
and kindness, so I refuse to believe that so many approve of this deadly terrorist
attack.
The French Minister of Internal Affairs ordered that the grand
Mosque de Pontin was to be closed for six months. Also, the Imam of the mosque is under
investigation and remains under arrest. Two
days after the murder, a defence council ordered the deportation 231 foreign
citizens, of those 180 were in prison and the rest were to be arrested.
A farewell ceremony was held on the 21st of
October, in consultation with Paty’s family.
At a ceremony, held at the Sorbonne University, President Macron awarded
the Legion d’Honneur to Paty’s family and described him as “quiet hero”.
On the 23rd October the French Council of Muslim
Faith (FCMF) sent the imams of France a text that they could use the inspiration
for their Friday prayers in response to the attack. The FCMF noted that the “horrible
assassination reminds of the scourges that mark our reality: that of the eruption in our country of radicalism,
violence and terrorism claiming to be Islam, claiming victims of all ages, all
conditions, and all convictions.” “No, we
Muslims are not persecuted in France,” the authors continued “we are sometimes
targets of anti-Muslim acts, but others are also victims of hostile acts. In the face of these provocations, we must
remain decent, serene and clear-sighted.”
France’s Minister of Interior demanded the dissolution of
the Islamic NGOs, "CCIF collective against Islamophobia" and "Baraka City" which he
described as enemies of the state. Both
the NGOs have been accused of taking part in a social media campaign against the
teacher, launched by the father of one of his pupils.
The attack against Paty polarised French people and
politicians alike and led to a public debate on how integrated or assimilated
Muslims can be into French secular society. One theme of the debate concerned
the education of the imams who partly came from abroad.
The terrorist attack also showed the problems France faced of
integrating foreigners into French society in a country which was increasingly
becoming racially and ethnically diverse. The political establishment formed a consensus
that two or three generations of “newcomers” had struggled to integrate.
The hashtags “Je suis Prof” and “Je suis Enseignant” both
meaning I am a teacher were launched in support of the victim and support of
freedom of expression. Also hashtags with "Je suis Samuel" were there for the same reason. This was
reminiscent of the campaign hashtag “Je suis Charlie” launched after Charlie
Hebdo’s journalists and 12 people total were brutally murdered by Muslim terrorists because
the magazine had published cartoons depicting Muhammad.
Rallies protesting against the murder and criticising the government’s
ineffective response to radical Islam, took place in Paris and other cities across
France. The demonstrators held placards
with the statements such as “Je suis Samuel” and "Schools in mourning” written
on them. The demonstrators also chanted “Freedom
of expression freedom to teach” and sang la Marseillaise. Politicians, academics and envoys joined the
demonstrations across France.
After Paty’s murder, an opinion poll carried out by the Institute
Francaise d’opinion publique found that 87% of the respondents considered that
France was under threat and 79% responded that Islam declared war on France. The poll found that 89% of the respondents
thought that the threat of terrorism is high and of those, 38% considered the
threat is extremely high.
The United Nations
Alliance of Civilisation’s High Representative, Miguel Martino, condemned the
murder, he also urged “mutual respect between people of different faiths and
political views.” “Terrorists have also provoked
acts of violence against innocent people who were attacked for their religion,
belief and ethnicity,” he added.
The leaders of the
European Union condemned the attack of Samuel Paty encouraging dialogue between
societies and religions. They called the
attacks “an assault on their values.”
The Secretary-General
of the Muslim World League said that violence and terrorism are crimes in all religions. So did all the other Muslim leaders. Also, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of India
condemned the murder. He also called the personal attack on President Macron “unacceptable” and thousands of Indians
expressed their solidarity to France.
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