TRAGIC: A French schoolgirl’s lie led to the beheading of her teacher — and she later admitted she made it all up.
On October 16, 2020, history teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was decapitated outside his school near Paris by an Islamist terrorist. The attack followed an online campaign that began with a false claim from one of his students.
The 13-year-old Muslim schoolgirl told her parents that Paty had shown cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class and ordered Muslim students to leave the room. She said she had been punished for protesting.
None of it was true.
She had not even been present in the class that day. She invented the story because she had been suspended for two days for misbehavior and was afraid her parents would be angry.
Her father and others spread the lie online. The teacher’s photo and name were shared. Days later, an 18-year-old jihadist hunted him down and murdered him in the street.
In a 2024 court hearing, the girl finally admitted the truth. She apologized to Paty’s family, saying she was “sincerely sorry” and that without her lie, none of it would have happened.