French police have arrested five people aged 18 to 29 regarding death threats sent to a French teen who criticised Islam on social media last November.
The five individuals were taken into custody on Tuesday in relation to an investigation into the very large number of death threats received by teenager ‘Mila’ after criticising Islam in a video on TikTok.
According to a report from broadcaster France Bleu, the arrests took place in several areas of France including Loire-Atlantique, Moselle, Calvados, Marne, and Hauts-de-Seine. Those arrested will likely face charges of death threats and cyber-harassment.
The November video was the latest released by the French teen since her video in January of 2020 led to a torrent of abuse and threats online. Both she and her family subsequently required police protection, and the teen was also forced to leave her school.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday that a total of 13 people had been arrested since the start of the threats against Mila last year.
Last month it was reported that following the publications of her first Islam-critical video, Mila had received an average of 30 hateful messages per minute.
“I hate religion. The Quran is… full of hate. There is only hate in it. Islam is a shit religion. That’s what I think,” Mila said in her first video.
Mila’s lawyer Richard Malka has stated that police have positively identified as many as 50 people who have sent hateful or threatening messages to Mila. One man was sentenced to three years in prison after making a throat-slitting gesture directed at the teen.
The arrests come just days after a French teacher was also given police protection over an open letter he wrote following the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty last year in which compared Islamist ideologues to Nazis.