PARIS — Most schools throughout France observed a minute of silence on Friday in remembrance of Samuel Paty, a teacher whose attempt to illustrate free speech to his students led to his beheading a year ago by an Islamist fanatic.
As a history teacher, Mr. Paty was responsible for teaching civics. To illustrate the right to blasphemy, free speech and freedom of conscience, he showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, setting in motion a swirl of lies and rumor that ended in his beheading.
The police investigation, it emerged in March, revealed that the girl who told her father, Brahim Chnina, a false version of what had taken place in the class and prompted the online frenzy that led to the killing had not been in the class at all.
The girl told the police that Mr. Paty had questioned all students on their religious allegiance, let Muslims know that they could leave because “they would be shocked” and then ordered her out of the class for causing a ruckus while images of a naked Prophet were shown. But the story was made-up; she was never there. » | Roger Cohen | Friday, October 15, 2021
