The family of Aboubakar Cissé, the victim of a stabbing attack inside a mosque in the Gard region of south France, insist that the act qualifies as a terrorist attack, Africanews reported on May 2nd.
French authorities have treated the murder as aggravated murder. The family’s lawyers were scheduled to submit a formal complaint to the Paris judicial court. They argued that the attacker, by murdering Cissé in a mosque, aimed to terrorise the Muslim community. Cissé, reportedly came to France as a teenager.
A lawyer representing Cissé’s family, said: “The Muslim community must be treated in the same way as any other citizens,” Arab News via AFP reported on May 2nd.
On May 1st, almost a thousand people protested in Paris to condemn Islamophobia. Demonstrators carried signs that dismissed racism. Their presence highlights growing concern over hate crimes targeting Muslim individuals across France. There was recently a backlash over a proposed hijab ban in sports competitions happening in France, Middle East Eye reported on April 4th.
The suspected killer, a 21-year-old French citizen of Bosnian origin, later surrendered to Italian authorities. Shortly after committing the murder, he recorded a video in which he insulted Cissé’s religion.
Representative of the campaign group, SOS Racisme, said to AFP: “This is an absolutely incredible act of hatred in a very peaceful place.”
Africanews, Arab News via AFP, Middle East Eye
+ There are no comments
Add yours