Foreign Ministry HQ in Cairo
Egypt expressed its “utmost condemnation” of a recent "terror attack" in France, in reference to the beheading of a French teacher by a teenager on Friday in a suburb of the capital over offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.
In an official statement on Saturday, Egypt’s foreign ministry extended its sincere condolences to the family of the victim and the French government and people.
“Egypt stresses its support to France at such a painful time…and solidarity to combat the phenomena of terrorism, extremism and violence in all its forms and manifestations,” it said.
The statement came one day after history teacher Samuel Paty was decapitated in broad daylight at the Éragny-sur-Oise suburb, northwest of Paris, by the attacker, an 18-year-old Chechen.
The attacker was shot dead by police minutes after the attack, which came weeks after the teacher showed his students caricatures of Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression.
Nordine Chaouadi, a parent of a 13-year-old in Paty’s class, told AFP that the teacher allowed Muslim students to leave the classroom during the discussion.
Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said on Saturday that the attacker had asked pupils in the street to identify Paty ahead of the beheading, described by French President Emmanuel Macron as an “Islamist terrorist attack”.
At least ten people, including four close relatives of the attacker, were detained after the attack.
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