A Paris court on Thursday sentenced a Pakistani man to 30 years in prison for attempting to murder two people outside the former Charlie Hebdo offices in 2020 with a meat cleaver.
When he carried out the attack, Zaheer Mahmood, 29, wrongly believed the satirical newspaper was still based in the building, which had been targeted by Islamists a decade ago for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
The newspaper had in fact moved following the attack, which cost the lives of 12 people, including eight members of the newspaper’s editorial staff. The 2015 murders shocked France and sparked fierce debate over freedom of expression and religion.
Originally from rural Pakistan, Mahmood arrived in France illegally in the summer of 2019. The court had previously heard how Mahmood was influenced by radical Pakistani preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who called for the beheading of blasphemers to “avenge the Prophet.”
Mahmood was found guilty of attempted murder and terrorist plot and was banned from setting foot on French soil again.