Father Who Launched Campaign Against Murdered French Teacher Spoke to His Killer

The father of a pupil in Samuel Paty’s class is said to have directly communicated with the 18-year-old Chechen terrorist prior to the beheading of the French teacher.

In the days before 18-year-old Abdoullakh Anzorov beheaded 47-year-old Samuel Paty, he is said to have engaged with Brahim Chninam, the father of a 13-year-old girl in Paty’s class. Chninam had organised a social media campaign against the teacher after Paty showed cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed during his lesson.

The two men are said to have spoken to each other on the messaging app WhatsApp, but investigators say they currently do not know the content of the communications, BFMTV reports.

Brahim Chninam was taken into custody shortly after the brutal murder and is also known to have connections with radical Islamist Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who was also arrested by French police.

Since the murder of Mr Paty on Friday, the French government has announced it will be looking into shutting down controversial Islamist organisations such as the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) and the Barakacity humanitarian NGO.

Earlier this week, police raided dozens of organisations, taking 11 people into custody as a result of the raid, many suspected of hate crimes in connection to the attack.

Among those detained after the terrorist attack was Ummah Charity president and founder Billal Righi who was arrested as part of a larger operation against the Islamist movement, according to officials.

The prosecutor of the Republic of Senlis, Jean-Baptiste Bladier, said that Righi was arrested after he refused to give decryption keys to his computers and mobile phones over to investigators.

While Righi condemned the murder of Samual Paty, he gave his support to the CCIF and Barakacity, which Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has proposed be dissolved.

According to the newspaper Le Parisien, the Ummah Charity has attracted attention from French intelligence in the past due to its operations in Syria.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com