French history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded last week by a Chechen teenager for showing cartoons of Islamic prophet Mohammad during his classes, will posthumously receive the Legion of Honor award, the highest in France, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Tuesday on the BFMTV broadcaster
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2020) French history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded last week by a Chechen teenager for showing cartoons of Islamic prophet Mohammad during his classes, will posthumously receive the Legion of Honor award, the highest in France, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Tuesday on the BFMTV broadcaster.
Last week, Paty was beheaded by a 18-year-old man of Chechen origin in the outskirts of Paris hours after he showed cartoons of Islamic prophet Mohammad to his students, which outraged some of Muslim parents. The attacker was subsequently eliminated by security forces, and the investigation into the matter has since been opened. The government has ordered the implementation of a series of measures in fight against Islamist threat, with the French President Emmanuel Macron describing the killing as a "terrorist attack."
"The Legion of Honor will be handed to him [Samuel Paty] posthumously and he will be made commander of the Academic Palms, it is emblematic because it is the order that goes to teachers and the world of education, and the martyr of Samuel Paty is well worth this recognition of his institution," Blanquer said.
The Legion of Honor is the highest award for civil or military merits in France, set up by French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.� The Order of Academic Palms, the national award for educational merits, was established by Bonaparte in 1808.
The awarding ceremony will be held on Wednesday evening at the national tribute at the Sorbonne university.
