All too many people in the West who should be defending the freedom of speech are instead heeding that threat, which will only bring on more threats. As Charb said, it is better to die standing up than to live on one’s knees.
“The beheading is hailed as a heroic deed: ‘A warning to all critics of Islam,'” translated from “Halshuggningen hyllas som hjältedåd: ‘En varning till alla islamkritiker,'” Samhällsnytt, October 17, 2020 (thanks to Marvin)
After Friday’s terrorist execution in Paris on Friday, where a teacher was beheaded in the open street after teaching students about free speech with the well-known Muhammad cartoons as an example, tributes to the Muslim terrorist are pouring in on social media. Samhällsnytt has compiled a number of the comments.
It was at 5.30pm on Friday that 18-year-old Abdulak Anzorov, a Muslim migrant born in Moscow with a Chechen background, in the name of Allah deprived teacher Samuel Paty of his life in the suburb of Conflans-Saint-Honorine outside Paris in France.
Abdulak immigrated to France with his family in 2008, and this year received a ten-year residence permit. He is suspected of having been called to act through a radical mosque in the country. The mosque is said to have shared information that pointed out the teacher for having shown the Muhammad caricatures that the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo had previously published.
The terrorist’s beheading is praised by many
In contrast to President Macron’s attempts to reassure the country with words that France is united and that the terrorist attack “can not divide France”, there are plenty of comments showing how Muslims praise the terrorist as a “hero” and warn other critics of Islam that more blood will be shed if one mocks their Prophet Muhammad or the Koran.
Below are a number of comments posted on the Arab television channel Al Jazeera’s Facebook page. Similar comments can also be read on, for example, France24’s Arabic channel.
Sociologist: “Increase in young people who justify religious violence”
The tributes in the comment fields confirm the results of the surveys conducted in France, which show that the country is deeply divided and segregated, where fundamentalist and pro-violence ideas are widespread among a growing part of the population. Samhällsnytt has previously drawn attention to how, among other things, the French sociologist Olivier Galland warned of increased radicalization in Europe, especially among younger Muslims.
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, Galland conducted a survey of 7,000 Muslims in four different regions of France. It showed that 20 percent of Muslims believe that religious violence is justified. In some schools, more than 40 percent of the Muslim students who responded to the survey had a radical view of their faith.
“A message and warning to all critics of Islam”
It is not only in foreign news outlets that warnings are directed at critics of Islam. On Samhällsnytt’s Facebook account, a Muslim has commented on our article about the terrorist act by saying that it should be seen as “a message and a warning to all critics and haters of Islam that the Prophet Muhammad and the holy book the Koran are not toys”.
