For attempted murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism, a court in France has sentenced Zaheer Mahmood, 29, to 30 years in prison. Mahmood had done the knife attack on two persons outside the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2020.
Mahmood, who had entered France illegally in 2019, will also be banned from the country after serving his sentence. Interestingly, he wasn't aware that Charlie Hebdo had relocated its offices following the tragic terrorist attack in January 2015, in which two gunmen linked to al-Qaeda killed 12 people, including 8 staff members of the magazine.
They targeted the magazine over its controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, which sparked an international debate over freedom of speech.
Apart from Mahmood, five other Pakistani men have been tried over the plot, some of whom were minors at the time.
Their sentences ranged from 3 to 12 years. During the trial, it emerged that Mahmood was highly influenced by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who is the leader of Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan and he has been immensely vocal for Pakistan's blasphemy laws.
Mahmood himself said he was infuriated with cartoons created by Charlie Hebdo and felt compelled to act. He was shown in a video shared on social media the day before the attack expressing his intention to "revolt" against what he perceived to be an affront to Islam.