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Authorities investigating the death of Professor Samuel Paty, who was beheaded on Friday near the high school where he taught on the outskirts of Paris, discovered multiple text messages and phone calls between the father of a student and the killer. The information was released on Tuesday by French radio Europe 1, which cites police sources.
The father posted his phone number on Facebook along with a video in which he appealed for Paty’s removal after she showed two cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class.
Authorities also announced the closure of a known mosque after the professor’s murder. The Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, clarified that the Pantin mosque will be closed this Wednesday and will remain behind closed doors for six months.
The decision was made pending a police investigation into networks suspected of promoting extremist religious beliefs, spreading hatred and fomenting violence.
Investigators in the case believe that several students pointed out who the teacher was to the Jiadista who beheaded him on Friday next to the school where he worked. The students will have done it in exchange for money.
A source close to the investigation, quoted by the newspaper “The Guardian”, revealed that the mosque, which has around 1,500 faithful, published a video on Facebook about Paty days before the history and geography professor was assassinated at the age 47 years old. The video violently criticizes the teacher’s decision to show his students two cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, along with other illustrations, as part of a debate on freedom of expression.
Muslim students were allowed to leave the room if they felt uncomfortable
The teacher gave the Muslim students the possibility to leave the classroom in case they felt uncomfortable.
French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said that, at the national tribute to be held this Wednesday at the Sorbonne University, Paty will be posthumously decorated with the Legion of Honor, the country’s highest official distinction. The professor will also be appointed a member of the Order of Academic Palms (Ordre des Palmes Académiques), added the minister.
In an interview with the BFMTV television channel, Blanquer clarified that “there are elements” that point to the possibility that the teacher was appointed by several students, four of whom were arrested. A fifth student was eventually released without charge.
If true, the involvement of students is “very serious” and shows “the penetration among young people of a certain worldview”, that of “fundamentalist Islamism”, through social networks and certain organizations, the minister pointed out. .
A “counteroffensive of the Republic” is underway, says the Minister of Education
The teacher was stabbed and beheaded outside the secondary school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, about 30 kilometers from the French capital. Abdouallakh Anzorov, the 18-year-old murderer of Chechen origin, had refugee status in the country, as did other members of his family. Anzorov was killed by the police.
The first elements of the investigation suggest that a controversy was generated through messages posted on social networks by some parents of school students. Specifically, the father of a student published an accusatory video and launched a campaign against the teacher, with which he called for the teacher’s punishment.
On November 2, at the return of the autumn school holidays, all schools in France will observe a minute of silence in memory of Paty and students who do not respect it will be penalized. Blanquer stressed that a “counteroffensive of the French Republic” is underway.
At least 15 people, including the four students, are being detained and questioned by counter-terrorism authorities in an attempt to establish a link between these suspects and the murderer.
The killing took place at 5 p.m. local time (4 p.m. in Lisbon) on Friday, near the Bois d’Aulne secondary school.
Macron announces dissolution of Islamist organization
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the Sheikh Yassine group, founded by one of those arrested for the attack and known for his extremist statements. During a brief intervention, Macron said Wednesday that the Cabinet of Ministers would approve the measure.
The head of state added that the demands and the security forces go “intensify“ against associations and individuals “that promote a radical integrative project“.
It is in progress “a strategy“Macron insisted, adding that “citizens have to be defended“including “those of the Muslim religion“, which should also be “defended from radical Islam“.
The Sheikh Yassine organization was founded in 2004 as a pro-Palestinian entity and its name evokes the founder of Hamas, Ahmed Yassine, assassinated by Israel that year. But his current notoriety in France is due more to his anti-Semitic and Islamist rhetoric.
Its founder is Abdelhakim Sefrioui, one of those arrested for the beheading of Paty. Sefrioui went, with a student’s father, to demand that the school principal fire the teacher and posted a video calling for retaliation against the teacher, classified as “bandit“.
News updated at 9:27 p.m.
