(AFP) A Pakistani man who attacked the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine last September was radicalised by videos of preachers in his home country and anti-France demonstrations at the time, a report said Wednesday.
The 26-year-old had spent the days leading up to his knife attack watching extremist preachers on YouTube and TikTok denouncing France and Charlie Hebdo, Le Parisien newspaper reported, citing the police investigation.
“I couldn’t eat. I was crying watching the videos,” Zaheer Hassan Mahmood told investigators.
Weeks before, the magazine had republished cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which were considered blasphemous by many Muslims, to mark the start of a trial of men linked to a 2015 attack on its offices.
