Alleged Qatari expert ‘does not rule out’ French intelligence role in Samuel Paty murder

LONDON: An alleged Qatari expert on French affairs said that he does not rule out the involvement of French intelligence in the murder of Samuel Paty.

In controversial views expressed on the Qatar-based Al-Mujtama Online TV channel on YouTube, Hassan Bin Ali-Alansari said: “I don’t rule out the possibility that the French intel were behind the attack against the teacher.”

Qatari Expert on French Affairs Hassan Bin Ali Al-Ansari: I Do Not Rule Out French Government Involvement in the Murder of Samuel Paty pic.twitter.com/PIWHWkxVTk

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 15, 2020

In October, Paty, 47, was killed by 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov after the former showed caricatures by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression. Anzorov later tweeted an image of the teacher’s decapitated head.

“This is a blatant justification of terrorism and a leeway for its exemption from responsibility for radicalisation. This also reflect a belief in conspiracy theory,” extremism expert Hani Nasira told Arab News.

“While the mentioned Qatari expert accuse France’s people and government, he utterly disclaims terrorism from the responsibility,” he added, also stating that “this is sheer stubbornness and determination to give excuses to terrorists.”

The expert questioned the French laws and educational system that fosters radicalisation, and went further to play down the terrorist attack itself, stating that “no one saw the decapitated head of the teacher.”

Ali-Alansari proclaimed that French intelligence were aware of everything that occurs in Islamic circles in France, and stated that the country “failed miserably” in their fight against terrorism.

“The problem is with the French people. France is the problem. The terrorist was born, lived and studied under the French law,” he added.

Following the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron gave a highly-criticised speech in which he stated that Islam was a religion “in crisis,” prompting him to become a figure of hate in some Muslim countries, with some boycotting French products.

Paty’s death came after a series of other extremist-inspired attacks in France this year, including a knife assault outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, and deadly stabbings at a church in Nice.