The U.N. human rights office on Tuesday condemned the "horrific murder" of French school teacher Samuel Paty who was beheaded this month by a suspected Islamist after he used caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet "unequivocally condemns the murder of the school teacher in France", spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.