French mosque holds prayer in tribute to Samuel Paty

Muslims at a mosque in a Paris suburb held a minute of silence led by vocal Imam Hussen Chalghoumi after Friday (October 22) prayers to pay homage to a teacher beheaded for showing caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.

Samuel Paty was murdered on October16 in broad daylight outside his school in a middle-class Paris suburb by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin. Police shot the attacker dead.

Paty's murder last week has prompted outrage in a country where the separation of church and state is fiercely defended by many. It has also exposed divisions in a society where a vocal minority in the Muslim community feels its practice of the religion is being targeted.

Chalghoumi, who has shown his support for Paty's showing of the caricatures in class, and who has spoken out against Islamism, was wearing a bulletproof vest on Friday. He said he has been wearing protection during big events for the past 10 years, as he had received death threats.

"(The teacher) is a martyr for freedom of expression, and a wise man who has taught tolerance, civilisation, and respect for others," Chalghoumi said.

"We need to end the victimisation discourse. We all have rights in France, like everyone else. Parents should tell their children about the good that exists in theRepublic," he added, asserting,"If parents don't do that well they need to be punished."

There was a heavy police presence at the mosque on Friday, as Muslims went in to pray.

Police were ordered to protect mosques in the cities of Bordeaux and Beziers in southwesternFrance, following threats or acts of violence.

The teenager who killed Paty had sought to avenge his victim's use of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression. Muslims believe that any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous.