The 13-year-old student who accused history teacher Samuel Paty of Islamophobia has admitted to having made up the incident that led to a hate campaign and a brutal public beheading.
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The girl hadn't attended the class on the day Samuel Paty allegedly showed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, which was published in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Paty allegedly asked Muslim students to leave the classroom before showing the images. She was suspended for two days because she accused Paty of Islamophobia.
Other students in the classroom said that Paty while teaching a class on freedom of expression, didn't ask students to leave, but asked those who might be shocked to close their eyes.
The student also said that she did not want her father to know of her suspension and so, made up the story as to not disappoint him. Brahim Chnina, the student's father launched an online campaign against Paty. Abdullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old who saw the video stalked and beheaded Paty in a street near the school. Chnina, in one of his social media post's compared Paty with Hitler and said that he should be fired.
Paty's killing sparked a conversation around teachers passing on French values in school and on freedom of expression.
President Emmanuel Macron called Paty's murder an act of 'Islamist terror'. Macron said, "We won't renounce the caricatures." On Sunday, he appeared to double down. In tweets published in both Arabic and English, he wrote: "We will not give in, ever". He added, however, that France does not accept hate speech and respects all differences.
This resulted in a confrontation between Europe and the Muslim world.
