Radical Islamist Leader Detained in French Teacher Beheading Investigation

Abdelhakim Sefrioui was arrested with his companion on Saturday in Évry. He had accompanied the father of a student to the school where the beheaded teacher worked, to demand his dismissal.

Following this act, Abdelhakim Sefrioui had inflamed tensions through a video filmed by the student’s father, in which he had presented himself as a "member of the Council of Imams of France," reports Franceinfo, adding that he had declared that "Emmanuel Macron has fueled hatred against Muslims and that the teacher is a thug." The investigation continues to determine the role or involvement of Abdelhakim Sefrioui in the tragedy that occurred in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.

For the record, for years, Abdelhakim Sefrioui, founder of the pro-Palestinian collective Cheikh Yassine, known for his anti-Semitic "sermons," has been on the S list and is well known to French anti-terrorism services. He, who for years has also called for violent actions against the "Islam of France." He violently attacked the imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, and the imam of Drancy, Hassan Chalgoumi, forcing them to leave the mosques. A question that still creates tensions. He was also in Dieudonné’s campaign office in 2006 for his presidential candidacy. In 2014, he had participated in pro-Gaza demonstrations in Paris, chanting slogans in praise of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the same source said.