France: Eight Muslims sentenced to prison for their involvement in the beheading of a teacher who displayed a Muhammad cartoon

Image: Jihad Watch

A French court has sentenced eight individuals to prison terms ranging from one to 16 years for their involvement in a hate campaign that led to the murder of a teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in class, local media reported.

In October 2020, shortly after Samuel Paty, 47, displayed the caricatures to his students, an 18-year-old Chechen assailant attacked and beheaded him outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris. The attacker was shot dead by police shortly after the incident.

Among those sentenced on Friday was the father of a student, whose false claims about Paty’s use of the caricatures sparked a wave of social media posts targeting the teacher. Brahim Chnina received a 13-year prison sentence for criminal terrorist association. Chnina had shared videos falsely accusing Paty of disciplining his daughter for objecting to the class, identifying both the teacher and the school.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, the leader of a hardline Islamist group, was sentenced to 15 years. Both Sefrioui and Chnina were convicted of inciting hatred against Paty.

Two accomplices of Paty’s killer, Abdullakh Anzorov, were also sentenced. Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov received 16-year sentences for complicity in the terrorist killing, despite denying any involvement, according to Franceinfo.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)