French schoolgirl admits to lying about claims that led to teacher’s beheading

A schoolgirl in France has admitted to spreading false claims about her teacher that led to his murder by decapitation. 

Hiding under the alias “Z,” the 13-year old girl told her father that her teacher named Samuel Paty of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in west of Paris had asked Muslim students to leave the classroom while he showed “a photograph of the Prophet Muhammad naked” during a class on free speech. 

Shortly after, Paty was beheaded in October by 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by police after beheading Paty. Satirical depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden in Islam, and considered blasphemous in other countries. 

Paty had also received online outrage and death threats for allegedly promoting Islamaphobia before his untimely death. 

"She lied because she felt trapped in a spiral because her classmates had asked her to be a spokesperson," the girl’s lawyer, Mbeko Tabula, shared with Agence France-Presse (AFP). It was also learned that the student wasn’t even at the class during the said lesson due to being suspended for numerous absences.

Paty's murder has led to rallies and cries of protests in defense of the teacher.

The girl has since been charged with slander and her father arrested for being  “complicit in a terrorist killing.” Their lawyer requests that the girl be free from charges, while the father ought to be blamed for “excessive and disproportionate behavior”. 

Banner photo from AFP