“I am a teacher”
Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old family man, taught history and geography at the Bois d'Aulne College. The teacher had recently shown cartoons of Muhammad to his fourth graders as part of a course on freedom of expression. Some parents were moved by it, especially on social media. The father of a student had filed a complaint on 8 October for the dissemination of pornographic images (a drawing of the naked and crouching prophet, with a star on his buttocks). The professor had in turn filed a defamation complaint. "Apparently it was a teacher who used to talk to them about Islam, cartoons and all that, it wasn't the first time my son came home and said 'the teacher told us about this today'," a parent of the student told AFP.
The teacher was attacked in the street as he was leaving work to return to his home on the eve of the All Saints' Day holiday. The prosecutor said the assailant had scouted Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and asked students to nominate him for the teacher.
Abdulzakh Anzorov, claimed responsibility. He is the author of the message posted on Twitter by an account (called @Tchetchene_270) now closed and which shows a photo of the victim's head. Underneath this photo, a message threatens Emmanuel Macron called "marcon," "the leader of the infidels," and its author claims to have "executed one of your dogs from hell who dared to belittle Muhammad." "The investigations were able to confirm that it was indeed an account belonging to the perpetrator," said Jean-François Ricard. The first operation of the assailant's phone, found near his body, "found in the notepad the text of the claim, recorded at 12:17 p.m. as well as the photograph of the deceased victim time-stamped at 4:57 p.m.," he added.
A professor killed for showing that France was strong, free and secular against hatred. I have friends who are teachers. It could have been them. If now even teaching becomes dangerous, where will this horror lead us?
Sources: https://www.parismatch.com/
