Al-Qaeda threatens France’s Emmanuel Macron, urges killing of those who insult Prophet
- President had defended freedom of speech following beheading of teacher who showed students cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed
- Macron’s remarks have sparked anger among Muslims, with some calling for boycott on French goods
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Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb urged its followers on Monday to kill anyone insulting the Prophet Mohammed and threatened French President Emmanuel Macron over his remarks on Islam.
Last month Macron defended the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed on the grounds of freedom of speech, launching a campaign against Islamic radicalism and sparking fury across the Muslim world.
“Killing anyone who insults the prophet is the right of each and every Muslim,” the jihadist group, known by its French acronym AQMI, said in a statement.
Macron’s remarks came after beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty near Paris by a suspected jihadist, after Paty had shown his students cartoons of the prophet Mohammed during a lesson on freedom of expression.
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Muslims protest against French leader’s defence of Prophet Mohammed cartoons, call for boycott
That followed the republication of the controversial cartoons in September by satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Macron has vowed to defend freedom of speech, but anger has spread among Muslims worldwide, with many vowing to boycott French products.
“The boycott is a duty but it is not enough,” AQMI said in the statement.
It threatened to avenge Macron’s comments, describing the French president as “young and unexperienced, with a little brain” and saying he had “insisted on offending the Prophet”.
French schools held a nationwide minute of silence Monday in honour of Paty, with officials recalling the country’s Enlightenment past as they urged students and teachers alike to look to the future.
“Samuel Paty taught each child of the Republic to become a free citizen. For him, for our country, we will continue. It is our honour and our duty,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex wrote in a tweet.
Macron has promised to increase protection of schools and churches immediately after the Nice attack, more than doubling the number of soldiers actively deployed in the country.
“We are living through difficult days, and I want you to recall these few words. You are France! To be French, at school in the Republic, is to learn to be free, to blossom, to rise up by knowledge,” the president said a message to students posted on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
