The father of the Pakistan migrant arrested for stabbing two people outside of the former offices of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, claims to be “proud” of his son’s actions
The father of Ali Hassan, also known as Zaheer Hassan Mahmoud, was interviewed in his native Pakistan by local media and claimed his son had done a “good job” in regard to the terrorist attack last week.
According to a report from La Provence, Arshad Mahmoud said the residents of the small Pakistani town in which he lives congratulated him and his son for protecting ” the honour of the Prophet.”
“I am asking the Pakistani government to bring my son home. He served Islam and we are a Muslim country,” the alleged father of the Islamist attacker said.
He went on to state his son “has a lion’s heart” and said that his son was a devout Muslim who prayed regularly and was a follower of Muhammad Ilyas Qadri, a Sunni scholar who founded and leads the Dawat-e-Islami organisation.
Initially identified as 18-year-old Ali Hassan who had come to France claiming to be an unaccompanied minor, the perpetrator of the attack was later revealed to be a 25-year-old named Zaheer Hassan Mahmoud.
The Pakistani is believed to have carried out the attack in response to the republishing of the controversial Mohammed cartoons by Charlie Hebdo ahead of the trial for the 2015 terror attack on their offices which left twelve dead, most of the victims being employees of the magazine.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin later confirmed the incident was being treated as an act of terrorism saying, “Manifestly it’s an act of Islamist terrorism.”
“Obviously, there is little doubt. It’s a new bloody attack against our country, against journalists, against this society,” he said.
So far at least six people have been arrested in connection with the attack as investigators are determining whether or not the 25-year-old acted alone. French authorities have now officially filed terrorism charges against the suspect, confirming their belief that the act was political and religious in nature.