Islamist Paid Cash to Find Identity of French Teacher He Beheaded

Chechen teen refugee Abdoullakh Anzorov allegedly paid cash to pupils to identify teacher Samuel Paty before he beheaded him in the street last week.

The 18-year-old is said to have paid several hundred euros in cash to pupils at the school where 47-year-old Mr Paty had shown cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed to his class as part of a discussion on freedom of expression.

According to a report from newspaper Le Monde, Abdoullakh Anzorov arrived at the Bois-d’Aulne college on Friday armed with an airsoft gun and two knives and approached various pupils with cash for information on what Mr Paty looked like. One of the students, a 15-year-old, was arrested on Sunday by police in connection with the attack.

Prior to the murder, one of the pupils, a 13-year-old, had told her father about the showing of the Mohammed cartoons and he, in turn, had called for “mobilisation” against Mr Paty on social media.

Anzorov is said to have only recently become radicalised. Born in Moscow, he grew up in France after coming to the country at six years old, acquiring refugee status in 2011.

His Twitter account, which saw him post a picture of the corpse of Mr Paty and claim responsibility for his murder, had only been created in June but was full of excerpts from the Quran and had been reported for antisemitic comments in July.

The International League Against Racism and Antisemitism (Licra) stated that the teen’s account had labelled Jews a “cursed people”.

The father of one of Paty’s students who called for mobilisation against him on social media has also been taken into custody. Brahim C. is also said to have had connections with a well-known radical Islamist named Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who has been arrested as well.

Over the weekend, French men and women demonstrated in support of freedom of speech and to pay their respects to Mr Paty.

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