Whether that is the image that the eighteen-year-old Chechen terrorist also had of the teacher is doubtful. He probably drew on the much-shared video on YouTube and the message of Islamist pressure groups “to stop that teacher.” For Samuel Paty had shown two caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad once published by Charlie Hebdo magazine. He did that during class EMC – moral education in civics – in other words, morality and citizenship. One of those caricatures shows a naked man on his knees, viewed from behind.
Which now raises a double question. On the one hand, the social media campaign is being targeted, but especially the role of radical activists is questioned. One man in particular was particularly active in encouraging the outrage. This is Abdelhakim Sefrioui, best known as the founder of the anti-Israeli collective Cheikh Yassine.
A few days before the attack, he called in interviews to “suspend the teacher immediately”. It was also he who, together with the father of a pupil, went to the headmaster and threatened “manifestations”. He called Samuel Paty “not a teacher but a villain” – a thug. It is clear that Sefrioui has stirred up the heat. Whether or not he violated the law is another matter. In any case, he was arrested and interrogated, along with ten others, often from the perpetrator’s environment. Today a friend of the eighteen-year-old Chechen has also been arrested.
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