Tunisian Migrant Charged in Connection to French Church Terror Attack

This image grab from AFP TV shows a picture of Nice assailant Brahim Aouissaoui, who a day
AFPTV TEAMS/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

French authorities have charged a Tunisian migrant for allegedly stabbing three people to death in what is believed to be an Islam inspired terror attack at a church in France in October.

Brahim Aouissaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian national was shot and seriously injured during the October 29th attack in Nice, France. He has finally been charged after his condition improved enough to be questioned by police.

The French broadcaster RTL reported on Monday that police had found an audio message on the migrant’s phone, in which he described France as the “land of unbelievers”, as well as “photographs relating” to the so-called Islamic State.

Police also found an image on Aouissaoui’s phone of the Chechen Islamist terrorist Abdulzakh Anzorov, who beheaded a French teacher, Samuel Paty — two weeks prior to the terror attack in Nice — after the teacher showed a class on free speech a Charlie Hebdo caricature of the Islamic prophet Muhammed.

During the attack at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Nice, Aouissaoui reportedly yelled out the jihadist war cry “Allahu Akbar” during and after the attack. Along with three knives, two mobile phones, the Tunisian migrant was also carrying a copy of the Quran.

In the course of the brutal attack, Aouissaoui allegedly used a 17-centimetre (6″) knife to attack three people, including a 60-year-old woman who died after nearly being beheaded inside the church.

A 54-year-old church employee had his throat cut and another 44-year-old woman died after receiving multiple stab wounds in the attack.

The Tunisian migrant arrived in France just two days before he allegedly committed the heinous act of terror, having travelled from Tunisia into Europe through the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has recently seen a drastic increase in illegal immigration.

Following the attack, right-wing Italian populist Senator Matteo Salvini said that Italy’s interior minister should resign if it was proven that Aouissaoui had indeed travelled to France by way of the Italian island.

In the wake of a string of terror attacks, French President Emmanuel Macron proclaimed last month, that since the European Migrant Crisis of 2015, it was “clear” that “there are breeding grounds for terrorists in France”.

“In certain districts and on the internet, groups linked to radical Islam are teaching hatred of the Republic to our children, calling on them to disregard its laws,” Macron wrote.

“That is what I called ‘separatism’ in one of my speeches. If you do not believe me, read the social media postings of hatred shared in the name of a distorted Islam that resulted in Paty’s death,” he explained.

Macron has embarked on a strident defence of Western Enlightenment values such as the right of freedom of expression as well as French secularism.

As a part of his fight against “separatism” in France, Macron launched a campaign to shut down Islamist associations, and even closed a mosque in Pantin, which shared a fatwa against Samuel Paty before his beheading.

Macron’s defence of French values has sparked widespread protests throughout the Islamic world, with radical Islamists and Al-Qaeda launching death threats against French officials and teachers.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka

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