Samuel Paty beheaded
At about 5pm on 16 October 2020, history and geography teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was killed and beheaded near his school, the Collège du Bois d'Aulne, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north-west of Paris. Earlier that month he had shown cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class on freedom of expression, telling students who might be offended that they could look away or leave. Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said the attacker asked pupils to point Paty out, and afterwards posted a photo of the victim online. Police shot him dead.
The attacker was Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old of Chechen origin (named by the BBC and AP). President Emmanuel Macron said Paty was killed because he "taught freedom of expression" (BBC). The campaign against Paty began when a 13-year-old pupil falsely claimed she had been excluded from the lesson, which she had not in fact attended.
On 20 December 2024, France's special anti-terrorism court convicted eight people. Naïm Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, friends of the attacker, received 16 years each for complicity in murder. Brahim Chnina, the pupil's father, received 13 years. Preacher Abdelhakim Sefrioui received 15 years for organising the online hate campaign (AP). Paty's sister Gaëlle Paty said: "Hearing the word 'guilty' — that's what I needed."
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