Two 12-year-old pupils suspected of supporting terrorism after defending teacher’s beheading in France
- Prosecutors said the youths apparently suggested that Paty deserved to die for showing controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons in class
- Prosecutors added that two similar incidents were reported involving children aged eight and nine, prompting a social welfare inquiry
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Two 12-year-olds are under investigation by French police on suspicion of supporting terrorism, over comments made during a homage to a teacher beheaded in a jihadist attack, officials said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors in the eastern city of Strasbourg said the two school pupils made their comments during a nationwide minute of silence on Monday for the teacher, Samuel Paty.
Paty was killed last month near his school outside Paris by an 18-year-old Chechen man after an angry online campaign over his showing of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed as part of a free-speech lesson.
Prosecutors said the two youths apparently suggested during discussions in class that Paty deserved to die for showing the controversial cartoons that had been republished by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
They added that two similar incidents were also reported involving children aged eight and nine, prompting a social welfare inquiry.
Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Monday that 66 inquiries into alleged support of terrorism had been opened since Paty’s death on October 16, after alerts to France’s online extremism watchdog Pharos.
“The questioning often involves young people, aged 12 to 16, who have used extremely repugnant language,” Darmanin told a parliamentary panel.
Often the comments and imagery reflect extreme violence “inspired by the Islamic State group, which is very worrying”, he said.
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The beheading of Paty shocked France and led President Emmanuel Macron to intensify a planned crackdown on Islamist activism.
But the episode has also led to angry protests against France in a number of Muslim countries and calls for boycotts of French products.
Thousands of Islamists marched in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Monday, while some 400 protesters also rallied outside the French embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
Macron called on young people to discuss the events among themselves, in a message published on social media on Monday.
“Terrorism’s plan is to manufacture hatred, to set us one against the other, to create fear,” Macron wrote. “Our response is love, respect, and freedom.”
Additional reporting by DPA
