Je Suis Ahmed (10/01/15)
One of the great ironies about the attack on the Charlie Ebdo offices in Paris is that the Islamist killers who claimed to be acting in the name of their religion, murdered a Muslim police officer while he was on the ground injured, pleading for his life.
By AURELIEN BREEDENJAN - The New York Times
Several videos showing the gunmen outside the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper, have surfaced online. The footage includes scenes of graphic violence. Video by Natalia V. Osipova on Publish Date January 7, 2015. Photo by Jordi Mir, via Reuters.
PARIS — In an amateur video that was widely circulated online after the shooting Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices in Paris, two gunmen could be seen killing a police officer as he lay wounded on the ground.
“We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad!” they shouted as they walked back to their getaway car parked nearby. “We have killed Charlie Hebdo!”
The officer, Ahmed Merabet, was the second police officer to be killed that day; another officer assigned to protect Charlie Hebdo’s editorial director was also killed. On Thursday, a third police officer was killed in a seemingly unrelated shooting south of Paris in another blow to the police forces here.
But the killing of Officer Merabet stood out: The #JeSuisAhmed hashtag — “I am Ahmed” in French — sprang up on social media alongside #JeSuisCharlie, as users of social media stood up for the slain officer.
Speculation that Officer Merabet was Muslim spread quickly on social media, where users praised him as a hero and, in some cases, a potent symbol in the debate about free speech and religious tolerance.
Photo - Ahmed Merabet
Some Twitter users wrote that Officer Merabet had died defending a newspaper that was accused of insulting his faith, and one user posted a quotation attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” Other commenters online echoed the #notinmyname social media campaign against the Islamic State. “One mustn’t forget that Muslims are the first victims of terrorism,” said one Twitter post in French.
“He was killed in a cowardly way by people who had misinterpreted their sacred text,” said Christophe Crépin, a spokesman for one of France’s police unions. “Yet he himself was from an immigrant background.”
Officer Merabet, 40, was assigned to the police precinct in Paris’s 11th Arrondissement, according to Rocco Contento, an official with another police union, who knew Officer Merabet.
“He was a nice person, very likable, always with a smile and very professional,” Mr. Contento said. “His colleagues are all very shocked by what happened.”
Mr. Contento said Officer Merabet, whose parents were from North Africa, lived in a suburb north of Paris with a large immigrant community, was unmarried and had no children, but could not confirm whether he was a practicing Muslim.
“The family wishes to keep as much discretion as possible,” said Loïc Lecouplier, an official with another police union. Police officials at the Paris prefecture and the Interior Ministry declined to comment on the officers who were killed.
