Paris
ParisFlash 90

An Islamist preacher has been charged with complicity in murder and his teen daughter with slander over the Islamic beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty.

The girl claimed that teacher Samuel Paty asked Muslims to leave the class when he showed Mohammed cartoons. The girl, who had already faced expulsion because of disciplinary problems, was not present in the class. Paty was beheaded by a Muslim in October of last year.

The girl’s father lodged a legal complaint and embellished the claims online, inspiring an 18-year-old Chechen refugee to track Paty down in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris. The Muslim was shot dead by police shortly after perpetrating the attack.

Paty showed the cartoons, which were first published in the Charlie Hebdo magazine, during a civics class discussing free speech and blasphemy.

AFP reports a new security bill being discussed in the French parliament would make it a jailable offense to publish information online about a public servant knowing that doing so could cause him harm.