Latest news with #AbdelkrimGrini
Time of India
29-04-2025
- Time of India
France: Mosque stabbing suspect surrenders in Italy
France: Mosque stabbing suspect surrenders in Italy The French national turned himself in at a police station in Italy, several hundred kilometers from the scene of the crime. The suspect in a knife attack at a mosque in southern France surrendered to Italian police, French and Italian authorities said on Monday. French police have been hunting for an attacker who stabbed a Muslim worshipper inside a mosque in the small French town of La Grand-Combe on Friday. After the assault, the killer filmed the dying victim with his phone. What do we know about the arrest? The suspect turned himself in on Sunday evening at a police station in Pistoia, northern Italy. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo The man, from a Bosnian family, went to the police station around 11 p.m. (2100 GMT) "accompanied by a lawyer and a close relative living in the town," Italian police said. According to the suspects' lawyer, the Lyon-born man had fled to Italy because a relative lives there. Abdelkrim Grini, the prosecutor of the southern French city of Ales, told the AFP news agency: "Faced with the effectiveness of the measures put in place, the suspect had no option but to hand himself in." He added that, "since the weekend," they had known that the suspect with no criminal record had fled France. Grini assumes that the attacker had accomplices in his escape, which has yet to be determined by the investigating judge. Italian authorities are now in touch with France to ensure that the suspect "is handed over to justice," Italian police told AFP. According to the suspect's lawyer, a European arrest warrant has been issued and the alleged perpetrator could be extradited to France by Wednesday. The suspect reportedly expressed that he wanted to return to France. Islamophobic motive suspected A judicial investigation has been opened into a premeditated murder on the grounds of race or religion, a French prosecutor who is now in charge of the case announced on Monday. Surveillance cameras at the mosque also show how the attacker stabbed his victim dozens of times while he was kneeling on the floor. The pair were alone in the mosque and the body was not found until mid-morning. An Islamophobic motive could not be ruled out, according to local investigators. The crime has sparked a wave of outrage in France after several reports indicated that the perpetrator shouted insults about Islam after the attack. Prime Minister François Bayrou called the act an "Islamophobic atrocity" and President Emmanuel Macron said there was "no place" for racism and hate. The suspect's lawyer, however, said he denied having been motivated by hatred of Islam and that "he has said nothing against Islam, nor mosques," according to the AFP news agency. More than 1,000 people gathered in La Grand-Combe on Sunday for a silent march in memory of the victim.
Morocco World
28-04-2025
- Morocco World
Suspect Behind Islamophobic Attack in French Mosque Turns Himself In to Italian Police
Rabat – The man who stabbed and killed a Muslim mosque goer in a French mosque in La Grand Colombe, southern France, has turned himself in to the police in Italy just two days after he committed the crime. Reports said today that the suspect turned himself in near Florence on Sunday night. According to Al Jazeera, the French Ministry of Interior confirmed the news, noting that the suspect, aged 21, is named Olivier A. and has no previous criminal record. Abdelkrim Grini, the public prosecutor in Ales city, told French news outlet BFMTV that French police were tracking the suspect after he fled France. 'It was only a matter of time before we got our hands on him,' he said. The defendant killed Aboubakar Cisse, a young Malian Muslim, stabbing him 40 to 50 times in cold blood on Friday morning inside the mosque. The suspect filmed the heinous act himself, and even expressed the desire to become a 'serial killer' in the video, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told BFMTV on Sunday. On Sunday, Muslims and non-Muslims alike marched in memory of Cisse in the town where he was murdered. Hundreds also rallied on Sunday in Paris to denounce the Islamophobic attack. Tags: Islam in FranceIslamophobia
LBCI
28-04-2025
- LBCI
French mosque murder suspect detained in Italy
A man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of stabbing a man to death while the victim was praying inside a mosque in southern France, French authorities said on Monday. The public prosecutor of the southern city of Ales in the Gard region, where the attack took place on Friday, Abdelkrim Grini, told BFM TV on Monday: "I can confirm that the alleged perpetrator did indeed go to an Italian police station, near Florence, last night at around 11-11.30 pm." "We knew he had left France ... It was only a matter of time before we got our hands on him," he added. Commenting on the motivation for the attack, Grini said: "The anti-Muslim motivation is the preferred lead (...) but there are also elements in the investigation that suggest there were other motivations for carrying the act ... perhaps a fascination with death, to be considered as a serial killer." Reuters
Express Tribune
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Man arrested after mosque killing as anti-Muslim hate rises in France
A man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of fatally stabbing a worshipper who was praying inside a mosque in southern France, authorities confirmed on Monday, in an attack that has renewed concerns over anti-Muslim hatred in the country. The public prosecutor of Ales, Abdelkrim Grini, said the suspect voluntarily handed himself in at a police station near Florence on Sunday night, between 11 and 11.30 pm. 'We knew he had left France ... It was only a matter of time before we got our hands on him,' Grini revealed. The suspect, who has not yet been formally named, surrendered in Pistoia and will be transferred to Florence later today. French authorities have said extradition proceedings will begin promptly. 'We will do all we can to have him back as soon as possible,' Grini said. Investigators have indicated that an anti-Muslim motive is the leading line of inquiry. However, Grini added that other factors were also being considered, including the possibility that the suspect had a fascination with death or aspired to be viewed as a serial killer. The killing, which occurred on Friday, was captured on video and circulated on Snapchat, further fuelling outrage across France. The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions surrounding France's Muslim community. Despite promoting a strict model of secularism, or laïcité, France is home to Europe's largest Muslim population, numbering over six million people and making up roughly 10% of the national population. French politicians widely condemned the attack over the weekend. However, many advocacy groups and community leaders have warned that rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in political discourse and public life is contributing to an increasingly hostile environment.
Al Jazeera
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Italian police arrest French suspect in ‘anti-Muslim' mosque murder
Italian police have arrested a man suspected of killing a Muslim worshipper in a mosque in southern France in an 'Islamophobic attack'. The suspect turned himself in at a police station near Florence late on Sunday, two days after the attack at the mosque in La Grand Combe, a former mining town in the Gard region. The murder of the Malian man has been condemned as an 'anti-Muslim' and 'racist' crime. The French Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the suspect, born in 2004 and with no previous criminal record, had crossed into Italy before surrendering. The public prosecutor of the southern city of Ales in Gard, Abdelkrim Grini, told BFM TV that police had been tracking the suspect after he fled France, adding: 'It was only a matter of time before we got our hands on him.' 'The anti-Muslim motivation is the preferred lead,' he added, but noted that authorities were also exploring other motives, including a 'fascination with death'. Authorities launched a manhunt on Friday following the attack, which was captured on the suspect's phone and later circulated online. Security footage reportedly showed the attacker shouting insults towards God before carrying out the assault. France will quickly start extradition procedures, Grini said. 'We will do all we can to have him back as soon as possible.'President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack, declaring: 'Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France. Religious freedom is inviolable.' Earlier, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou branded the attack as 'Islamophobic'. The Grand Mosque of Paris identified the victim, named locally as Aboubakar, as a young man in his 20s who had been cleaning the mosque shortly before he was attacked. Demonstrations in support of the victim were held over the weekend in La Grand Combe and Paris, with activists demanding stronger action against anti-Muslim violence. France is home to Europe's largest Muslim population, making up about 10 percent of the country.
