French authorities charge four more students over beheading of Samuel Paty

French authorities have charged four more students in connection with the killing of a history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an 18-year-old named Abdullakh Anzorov last month. Three of the students, who allegedly identified Paty to the murderer for a few hundred euros, have been charged with complicity in a terrorist murder. Meanwhile, the fourth student, who is the daughter of Brahim Chnina, is accused of misrepresenting the facts of the events in the classroom that led to Paty's gruesome murder. 

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Brahim Chnina himself has been charged in connection with Paty's murder after he allegedly ran a hate campaign against the teacher on social platforms weeks prior to the murder. Paty reportedly showed his pupils cartoons of Mohammed Prophet while discussing freedom of speech and expression. Chnina's daughter did not attend the class as Paty had said students were free to leave the room if they are uncomfortable. 

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However, Chnina's daughter claims that he singled out Muslims and asked them to leave before he showed the naked cartoons of Prophet Mohammed that had previously triggered attacks on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing them in 2015. The cartoons came into the limelight again after Charlie Hebdo republished it following the commencement of trials against people connected to the 2015 attacks, which were carried out by two brothers.

Chnina and his daughter had lodged a complaint with the police against Paty after he showed the cartoons to his pupils. Following this, Chnina also ran a virtual hate campaign against the teacher, which prosecutors believe may have instigated the murderer. 

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Paty's murder

Paty was beheaded in front of his school on October 16, which sparked a massive uproar in France as people to the streets to mourn the teacher's death. French President Emmanuel Macron defended Paty's decision to show the cartoons to his students as freedom of speech and expression, which also garnered a lot of criticism from several Islamic countries. So far, 14 people have been charged in connection with Paty's murder and several Islamic NGOs in the country have been shut as a result of government crackdowns.  

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(Image Credit: AP)