While an attack killed three people this Thursday morning in the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia reacted on Twitter.
Followed by 1.3 million people on Twitter, Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, returned in a series of tweets about the events that took place this Thursday in France.
The man began by commenting on the death of Samuel Paty, a professor beheaded for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a free speech class. “Murder is not an act I would approve of as a Muslim. But if I believe in free speech, I don’t think it includes insulting other people,” he wrote .
At the end of his tirade, where he exposes his ideas on how to dress women in Europe, Mahathir Mohamad attacks Emmanuel Macron. “Macron does not show that he is civilized. He is very primitive when he blames the religion of Islam and the Muslims for the murder of the professor,” we can read.
According to him, the French have killed millions of people in the past, including many Muslims, which justifies the anger of the latter. “Muslims have the right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past,” he said. Before continuing: “Since you blamed all Muslims and the religion of Muslims for what was done by an angry person, Muslims have the right to punish the French. The boycott cannot compensate for the wrongs committed by the French during all these years. ”
Serious remarks, in an already very tense climate in France.
Twitter withdraws tweet from ex-Malaysian pm
Twitter, pressed by the French government, finally withdrew on Thursday a message from the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, estimating shortly after an attack in Nice that Muslims had the right “to kill millions of French”.
“Throughout their history the French have killed millions of people. Many were Muslims. Muslims have the right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past,” wrote Mahathir Mohamad.
The platform had previously maintained this tweet for a while, citing a “public interest”, while accompanying it with a warning.
Referring to the beheading on October 16 of a French teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students, as part of his teaching, Mr. Mahathir also declared that he did not approve of the attack but that freedom of expression did not include “insults to others”.
“Whatever religion is involved, people who are angry kill,” said the 95-year-old ex-prime minister, who has made controversial statements about Jews and homosexuals in the past.
Mr. Mahathir, who twice occupied the chair of Prime Minister for a cumulative period of 24 years, judged that French President Emmanuel Macron was “very primitive”.
“The French should teach their citizens to respect the feelings of others. Since we accuse all Muslims and the religion of Muslims for what an angry person has done, Muslims have the right to punish the French,” he continued. “The boycott cannot compensate for the misdeeds committed by the French all these years”.
He made no reference to the Nice attack, committed according to a French source close to the investigation to the cry of “Allah Akbar” (“God is the greatest”, in Arabic).
“Accomplice of a call to crime”
French Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O called on the American platform to suspend the account and to withdraw the message mentioning that Muslims would “have the right to kill millions of French people”.
“I just spoke with the Director General of Twitter France. I demanded that the account of (Mahathir Mohamad) be immediately suspended. Twitter could not be complicit in a call for crime,” he said indicated on his personal account, in French and English.
Twitter initially maintained the post by adding the following statement: “This tweet violated the rules for glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that its availability may be of interest to the public.”
Then the tweet in question was finally removed. The other comments posted by Mahathir Mohamad remained visible.
After the beheading of the French teacher, Samuel Paty, by an 18-year-old Chechen Russian, Emmanuel Macron promised that France would not renounce cartoons, in the name of freedom of expression.
