Suspect Arrested in Paris Attack Near Former Office of Charlie Hebdo Magazine

The gentleman then sings in devotional song about the Prophet Muhammad in the movie. French law enforcement say they imagine the suspect is the very same as the gentleman in the movie.

Charlie Hebdo magazine was the focus on of a 2015 assault that killed 12 men and women. ISIS and al Qaeda equally claimed attackers have been users. The magazine has considering that moved to a distinctive locale. The assault on Friday significantly wounded two workforce of an unrelated manufacturing business who have been taking a crack outside the house the making.

In Pakistan, Arshad Mahmood, the father of the suspect in Friday’s assault, discovered his son as Ali Hassan, the very same title law enforcement say the suspect gave when he was apprehended.

Mr. Hassan could not be arrived at for remark. It could not be identified no matter whether he is represented by a lawyer.

The gentleman in the movie identifies himself as Zaher Hassan Mahmood, a title the father said his son at times used in France. Police said they identified a scanned duplicate of an identification card of the suspect’s on his phone bearing the very same title as the gentleman on the movie utilizes. Mr. Mahmood discovered the gentleman in the movie as his son.

Mr. Mahmood said his son traveled to France as an immigrant two several years back together with two brothers and acquired his authorized permission to get the job done in the state on the very same working day as the assault.

Mr. Mahmood, who farms a little plot and life in a village in central Pakistan, said his son, a single of 7 small children, analyzed the Quran diligently as a baby, prayed frequently and favored to sing spiritual music. He said that men and women in the spot have been coming to congratulate him on his son’s steps. He said he traveled to France in look for of get the job done.

“We are proud of our son. What ever he did is in his really like for Prophet Muhammad,” Mr. Mahmood advised The Wall Avenue Journal. “I say whatsoever he did is appropriate. There is no comprise on dignity and respect of Prophet Muhammad.”

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not answer to a ask for for remark.

So much no indications have emerged that Mr. Hassan belonged to an extremist group or network of militants.

The movie recording indicated that he follows a strain of Islamic believed centered in South Asia identified as the Barelvi custom, the major between Pakistani Muslims. The sect, to which the father said his son and the family adhere, focuses on honoring the individuality of the Prophet Muhammad.

The sect is overwhelmingly opposed to violence, and hasn’t been linked to militant groups this kind of as al Qaeda and ISIS that have broad anti-Western political agendas.

But experts said the sect has grow to be progressively aggressive in Pakistan, deploying protection of the Prophet as a tool to obtain and encourage followers by means of accusing some others of blasphemy.

Ayesha Siddiqa, a investigate associate at London University’s College of Oriental and African Scientific tests, said that Barelvi Islam has grow to be much more assertive in new several years as it has competed for impact with other sects. But the blasphemy concern is also getting much more significant to other Muslim traditions, she said.

“There’s been a transformation of Barelvis,” said Ms. Siddiqa. “The blasphemy concern is being weaponized.”

In 2011, a outstanding politician, Salmaan Taseer, was killed by a Barelvi who was a single of his own law enforcement bodyguards. Mr. Taseer had identified as for reform of rules towards blasphemy, which make insults to the Prophet Muhammad a criminal offense punishable by demise. Human-rights groups say they are frequently misused to settle own disputes.

The gentleman who killed him was transformed into a hero for some Pakistanis. When the killer was convicted of murder and executed, thousands turned out for his funeral.

In Pakistan’s 2018 general election, a new political occasion of challenging-line Barelvis emerged. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, which campaigned pretty much solely on the blasphemy concern, garnered much more than two million votes. The occasion finished third in Pakistan’s most-populous province, Punjab, and received two seats from the town of Karachi for the regional parliament there.

Ejaz Ashrafi, a spokesman for Labbaik, said the group does not call for violence. “However, no Muslim can tolerate this kind of blasphemous functions as producing sketches of Prophet Muhammad,” he added.

Previously this calendar year, an American citizen of Pakistani origin who was accused of blasphemy was shot useless in a courtroom exactly where he was on trial for the offense in the northwestern town of Peshawar. In 2016 in the U.K., a shopkeeper of Pakistani origin was killed over meant blasphemy by a different gentleman of Pakistani origin.

When it is unclear no matter whether these incidents have been tied especially to the Barelvi sect, their target on blasphemy was found as influenced by escalating intolerance towards perceived insults to the Prophet.

In the movie Mr. Hassan said he was a follower of a cleric identified as Ilyas Qadri, who operates a very well-set up mainstream Barelvi spiritual group dependent in Pakistan identified as Dawat-e-Islami. Mr. Qadri has said that supporters shouldn’t convert to violence over blasphemy. A spokesman for the group said that Mr. Hassan was not a member and that they are a tranquil group.

—Noemie Bisserbe contributed to this short article.

Produce to Saeed Shah at [email protected]