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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Pedestrians pass by a poster depicting murdered French teacher Samuel Paty placed in the city centre of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:13am, 4 Nov 2020Updated: 9:10pm, 4 Nov 2020

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.

Pupils from a junior school in Bischwiller, eastern France, listen to their teacher, on Wednesday, as part of a tribute to slain history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an attacker for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in his civics class. Photo: AFP

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.