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Samuel Paty was an ordinary man, and certainly when he started this school year, his third at Bois d’Aulne College, he would not have imagined that he would become a martyr for free speech or receive the posthumous title of Legion of Honor. . , the most important French decoration.
At least three years ago, the teacher did an exercise with his students (confirm their own) during citizenship classes. In order to promote a debate on freedom of expression, terrorism and religious intolerance, he showed cartoons in class that satirized the prophet Muhammad.
He did not do it to insult anyone, he himself invited Muslim students to leave the classroom if they were sensitive to this issue.
This school year was the last time Paty practiced her exercise. The display of a Charlie Hebdo magazine cartoon, the target of a terrorist attack in 2015, sparked outrage from some students and their parents. Although Paty did not show the cartoons “to be controversial or to disrespect the students,” as a student’s father would say, the truth is that, after the controversial class, another 13-year-old student described that the teacher ” felt uncomfortable. ” ».
After being denounced as an Islamophobic act, the father of a student went to the school to demand the dismissal of the history and geography teacher. Failing to achieve the objective of the mission, the man appeared with a member of the Hamas terrorist group where they issued fatwa, the same Islamic execution decree that was addressed to Salman Rushdie when he published The Satanic Verses, to Paty.
The person who responded to this call was Abdoullah Anzonov, an 18-year-old man born in Moscow, but of Chechen origin. On November 16, when Paty returned home, where she lived with her five-year-old son, Anzonov approached the teacher. While shouting “Allahu Akbar” he beheaded him with a knife.
Anzonov was eventually killed by police shortly after the murder, but not before he admitted on Twitter that he had committed the crime.
Teach freedom of expression
From the descriptions of alumni and colleagues, few would have imagined that Paty’s life would end so cruelly.
“Totally dedicated to the profession”, summarize the professors who worked with him. “He really wanted to teach us,” confirms Paty’s former student, Martial, 16, barely younger than the killer.
“When my son had a problem, he listened to it. Nobody deserves this, least of all him, ”said a student’s mother, Nathalie Allemand.
“I am destroyed. Samuel Paty was my graduate student. He was a brilliant student, a super teacher, a man of dialogue, “wrote a former colleague of the victim, Christophe Capuano, on Twitter. “I will cite your name and your example, comrade, to all who still want to practice this beautiful profession,” he added.
The radical Anzorov
The man of Chechen origin moved to France in 2008, when he was 4 years old. Anzorov only had a criminal record for common crimes. However, the antiterrorist attorney general, Jean-François Ricard, says that his radicalization is evident, referring that on his mobile phone they discovered the text of the complaint, published on Twitter, before the attack, as well as the photograph of the decapitated head of Samuel. Paty.
Accompanying the image was still a message addressed to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, explaining that he intended to proceed with the execution in the name of Allah. In this text he called Paty “a dog from hell” who “tried to disparage the prophet Muhammad. “.
Neighbors described the Russian refugee as a “discreet” and “lonely” young man who for about three years was “steeped in religion.” A young man who lived in the same neighborhood as the murderer told AFP that “he must have been manipulated or seen too many movies on video.” But he left a caveat: “This has nothing to do with our community.”
Chechens in France are under close surveillance by internal security services. According to the coordinator of the secret services and the fight against terrorism, this community represents between 15 and 20% of radicalized Islamists, you can read on the Rádio França Internacional website.
Fearing “stigmatization”, the Assembly of Chechens in Europe condemned this crime. “No community can be held responsible for isolated acts committed by its compatriots.”
After the beheading, the French police have already launched several police operations against “dozens of people” involved in the Islamist movement and closed a mosque in Paris.
“Samuel Paty was assassinated because Islamists want our future and they know that with silent heroes like him they will never have it,” said Macron, who has guaranteed more action against radical Islam.
French Muslim activist Yasser Louati told Al Jazeera that “Muslims are under attack”, adding that the French president is using “Islamophobia to fuel his campaign.”
Consequences of the attack
Meanwhile, nine accomplices to the crime have already appeared in court. Among the accused is Brahim C., father of a student, who called for a mobilization against Paty and who exchanged messages with Anzorov, as well as the Islamic radical Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who accompanied the student’s father in this mobilization.
In addition to Brahim and Sefrioui, two students under the age of 14 and 15 will appear before the judge, suspected of having received money from the attacker in exchange for information about the victim. According to the attorney general, the identification of the teacher “was only possible thanks to the intervention of the students.” The attacker would have offered between 300 and 350 euros in exchange for the information.
Also present in court were three friends of the attacker who surrendered to the police on Friday night.
Samuel Paty was honored throughout France with demonstrations in favor of freedom of expression.
The teacher was distinguished by Emmanuel Macron with the Legion of Honor posthumously, and the five-year-old son was declared a “student of the nation”, a distinction attributed to the children of parents killed in combat or in an attack. J
