France probes terror motive after man shoots dead Tunisian neighbour
The shooting late Saturday in Puget-sur-Argens in the Var region comes after a Malian man was stabbed to death in April in a mosque, also in southern France, as concern grows over hate crimes against Muslims.
The shooting was initially investigated by regional prosecutors as a suspected murder motivated by the victim's ethnicity or religion.
But French national anti-terror prosecutors (
Parquet national antiterroriste
, PNAT) announced Monday that they would be taking over the investigation.
The suspected killer, a 53-year-old who is French, fled the scene in a car but was arrested not far away after his partner alerted police.
He posted videos with racist content before and after the shooting late on Saturday, according to regional prosecutor Pierre Couttenier.
The Tunisian man killed, believed to be 35 years old, was shot five times. The Turkish citizen, 25, was wounded in the hand and hospitalised, the prosecutor said.
Advertisement
A sports shooting enthusiast, the suspect "posted two videos on his social media account containing racist and hateful content before and after his attack," he added.
The PNAT prosecutors said Monday that they had opened an investigation into a "terrorist plot" motivated by the race or religion of the victims.
"The racist nature of this double crime is beyond doubt, given the hateful remarks made by the killer," said SOS Racisme, an anti-discrimination NGO.
"This tragedy echoes a series of racist crimes that have occurred in recent months," it said, denouncing a "poisonous climate" in the country including the "trivialisation of racist rhetoric".
Aboubakar Cisse of Mali was stabbed dozens of times while attending prayers at the mosque in the southern French town of La Grand-Combe on April 25th.
A French national of Bosnian origin accused of carrying out the attack surrendered to Italian authorities after three days on the run. Italy then extradited him to France to face justice.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was bitterly criticised for never travelling to the scene of that crime to show solidarity, while PNAT anti-terror prosecutors also came under fire for not taking over the case and instead leaving it to regular criminal prosecutors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Old video of political rally in South Africa predates diplomatic row with US over white farmers
'South African communists are celebrating the expropriation of land from exiled white farmers and calling for the killing of those who remain,' reads an X post published with a video on May 22, 2025. Image Screenshot of a misleading X post published on May 22, 2025 The 15-second clip shows a stadium full of people wearing red shirts, the same colours of the radical left South African political party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The crowd chants, 'Kill the Boer'. The 'boers' are white Afrikaans farmers, descendants of the first Dutch settlers in South Africa. The chant, reprised in recent years by the EFF, was a popular struggle song in apartheid aimed at the repressive Afrikaner nationalist establishment. Even after 30 years of democracy, land ownership in the country remains contentious, at home and abroad. After South Africa's parliament ratified an amended property expropriation law earlier this year, Trump falsely accused the government of a 'white genocide' and encouraged Afrikaners, especially farmers, to apply for refugee status (archived here). The claim circulated primarily in French, while other posts were shared in Spanish and Portuguese. AFP Fact Check previously debunked this claim in French. Image Screenshots of similar French misleading posts published on May 20, 2025 Claims that the video shows South African 'communists' celebrating the expropriation of farms left behind by fleeing whites are misleading. 2024 EFF election rally A reverse image search of keyframes taken from the video reveals that it appeared online as early as March 3, 2024 — long before the first group of white South Africans granted asylum arrived in the US. It was featured in an X post about EFF's election manifesto launch which had occurred the day before (archived here). The political party's poster on Facebook confirmed the manifesto launch date as March 2, 2024, at South Africa's Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto (archived here). A keyword search of the EFF's YouTube account shows there was a live broadcast of the rally (archived here). AFP Fact Check matched part of the audio in the video on X with audio about 68 minutes into the live stream. The clip features EFF leader Julius Malema, whose party secured 9.5 percent of the vote in the country's 2024 general elections. Malema is wearing the same white T-shirt in both the viral video (filmed from the stage) and the one posted on the EFF's YouTube channel. We also matched people on the stage with him to confirm it was the same event: a woman in a green dress and red beret and a man in a black shirt. Image Screenshots comparing the EFF video (left) and the misleading post video (right) Anti-apartheid song Malema and EFF supporters are known for singing 'Kill the Boer', a song originally chanted in protest against the former racist white-minority rule regime. The song was also part of the footage played in the Oval Office on May 21, 2025, when Trump ambushed Ramaphosa during their diplomatic meeting with a video package, as supposed proof of his claims about an ongoing genocide (archived here). Image Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa watch the video package in the Oval Office on May 21, 2025 (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / CHIP SOMODEVILLA) But many, including South Africa's ex-president Thabo Mbeki, have said the song is not meant to be taken literally (archived here). Ramaphosa reiterated this (archived here) on May 27, 2025, telling the media that 'it's not meant to be a message that elicits or calls upon anyone to be killed'. "We are a country where freedom of expression is in the bedrock of our constitutional arrangements," Ramaphosa added, dismissing Trump's suggestion that Malema should be arrested for singing the song. Singing the song was banned in 2010, but the Equality Court ruled it should be seen as a historical symbol in the fight against racial segregation and not as real incitement to hatred (archived here). In 2024, the country's Constitutional Court, the highest in the land, upheld that view (archived here). Diplomatic tensions At the end of January 2025, South Africa passed a law regulating expropriations and setting conditions for compensating former owners in all but exceptional cases (archived here). Most legal experts said the law clarifies the existing framework without major changes. But Trump claims it allows the illegal seizure of land from white farmers, who owned 72 percent of agricultural land according to 2017 government data (archived here). Trump has also accused the South African government of discrimination and of conducting a "white genocide", which AFP Fact Check previously debunked. The US offered white farmers asylum based on this falsehood, and had welcomed around fifty people by May 12, 2025. Local media reported that more Afrikaners also quietly arrived in the US on May 30, 2025 (archived here).
LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
Suspected mastermind of French crypto kidnappings arrested in Morocco
A 24-year-old Franco-Moroccan man suspected of masterminding a series of kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in France has been arrested in Morocco, French authorities said. The country has been shaken by a series of kidnappings and attempted abductions targeting cryptocurrency bosses and their families in recent months, prompting one prominent crypto entrepreneur to call on authorities to " stop the Mexicanization" of France. Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou was wanted by the French authorities and was the subject of an Interpol red notice for "arrest, kidnapping, false imprisonment or arbitrary detention of a hostage." The suspect was arrested in the northern Moroccan city of Tangier, according to a statement from the country's General Directorate for National Security carried by Moroccan state news agency MAP. "I sincerely thank Morocco for this arrest, which demonstrates excellent judicial cooperation between our two countries, particularly in the fight against organised crime," French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on X. Darmanin did not release further details but reposted a report in French daily Le Parisien which said authorities believe that Bajjou might have organized a series of kidnappings and abduction attempts from abroad. A native of Le Chesnay, west of Paris, Bajjou is suspected of being one of the masterminds behind the high-profile kidnapping in January of French crypto boss David Balland and his partner, according to Le Parisien. Balland co-founded the cryptocurrency firm Ledger, which was valued at the time at more than $1 billion. Balland's finger was cut off by his kidnappers, who demanded a hefty ransom. At least nine suspects are under investigation in that case. Another ringleader? The French authorities are also probing Bajjou's possible involvement in the series of kidnappings or attempted kidnappings in May, Le Parisien said. In footage that went viral on social media, several masked men attacked a pregnant daughter of cryptocurrency entrepreneur Pierre Noizat, her husband and their child in broad daylight in the French capital's hip 11 th arrondissement in mid-May. The attackers fled after the family put up resistance and a local attacked the men with a fire extinguisher. In early May, attackers also abducted a crypto-millionaire's father, who was later rescued by police. According to Le Parisien, another Franco-Moroccan man in his forties is believed to be behind the kidnapping plots. He remains at large. The Morocco-based men are thought to have been recruiting youngsters online to carry out criminal offenses in France. French authorities have made a series of arrests, but the suspects detained until now are thought to have been those involved in carrying out the abductions or in logistics. Last week, French authorities charged 25 people aged between 16 and 23 in connection with the kidnappings and attempted abductions. Most of the suspects were born in France and others in Senegal, Angola and Russia. The crimes have become a major embarrassment for the French government and have sparked concern about the security of wealthy crypto tycoons, who have notched up immense fortunes from the booming business. In May, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau held an emergency meeting with cryptocurrency leaders, with the ministry announcing plans to bolster their security.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
Murder of Tunisian man sparks France's first far-right terrorism probe
Shock over the murder of a Tunisian hairdresser in a village near the French Riviera last weekend continues to reverberate throughout the Western European country, as authorities condemn the crime as fuelled by hatred. After the 46-year-old Hichem Miraoui was shot dead near his home in Puget-sur-Argens in southern France on Saturday, one of his neighbours has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a man of Turkish background was also injured. In videos posted on Facebook shortly before his arrest, the suspect, identified as Christophe B, 53, used racist language and appeared to incite French citizens to conduct further acts of violence against Muslims. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Tuesday that the murder was 'clearly a racist crime', 'probably also anti-Muslim' and 'perhaps also a terrorist crime'. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT), which opened in 2019, launched a probe into the killing this week, the first time it has done so for a murder that is thought to have been inspired by far-right ideology. Since Miraoui's murder, Muslim communities across France have spoken of their sadness and fear. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Rhône Council of Mosques said the crime was indicative of the 'troubling and increasingly hostile climate toward citizens of Muslim faith in France'. Meanwhile, Hafiz Chems-Eddine, Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, called for 'urgent, national awareness of the dangers of xenophobic, racist, and Islamphobic rhetoric'. 'It is time to question the promoters of this hatred, who, in the political and media spheres, operate with impunity and lead to extremely serious incidents,' he said. Islamic leaders also made a connection between Miraoui's murder and the fatal stabbing of the 22-year-old Malian Aboubakar Cissé in a mosque in southern France on 25 April. In a video filmed while Cissé was dying, his French attacker criticised Islam.
