A Paris court on Thursday sentenced to 30 years in prison Zaheer Mahmood, a 29-year-old Pakistani man, for trying to kill two people outside the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in 2020. Mahmood entered France illegally in 2019 and committed the attack believing the newspaper was still based at the location.
The court was told that Mahmood was radicalized, with far-right Pakistani cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi inciting violence by calling for the beheading of people he perceived as blasphemers. On September 25, 2020, Mahmood went to the former Charlie Hebdo address, armed with a meat cleaver and started attacking two employees of the Premieres Lignes news agency inside the offices.
Charlie Hebdo had long since moved locations since the massacre in 2015. That year two Al-Qaeda-related terrorists massacred 12 at the headquarters of the magazine, triggering debate after debate over the limits of freedom of speech in France in contrast to tolerance over religious faiths.
Mahmood was convicted of conspiracy to commit attempted murder and terrorism. In addition, a prohibition order was made on his return to France. Other than Mahmood, five Pakistani men, two of whom were minors at the time of the attack, were convicted of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts for inciting and abetting the attack. The sentences ranged between three to 12 years with prohibition orders not to return to France on the adults.
The six men were placed under France’s terror offenders list. However, Mahmood and all his co-accused never reacted after the verdict toward it. As for the case, the attendees who were considered victims of court judgment never wish to comment regarding the issue at hand.
