French people should be killed for massacres of past: Mahathir

18:16 October 29

French people should be killed for massacres of past: Mahathir

Hyderabad: Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has said that French people should be killed for massacres of the past.

Mahathir's remarks came on Thursday when a terror-linked stabbing at a French church has killed three people and wounded many.

Shortly after France stabbing, Mahathir outbursted in a series of tweets. Referring to the beheading of a French teacher who showed a caricature of Prophet Muhammad, Mahathir said “the teacher intended to demonstrate freedom of expression”, adding that he did not approve of that attack but that freedom of expression does not include “insulting other people”. 

Irrespective of the religion professed, angry people kill. The French people in the course of their history have killed millions of people. Many were Muslims, reiterated the 95-year-old Former Malaysian Prime Minister. 

Mahathir, who served as Malaysian premier twice for a total of 24 years, said that President Emannuel ‘Macron is not showing that he is civilised’, adding that he was ‘primitive in blaming the religion of Islam and Muslims for the killing of the insulting school teacher. It is not in keeping with the teachings of Islam”. 

Tensions are high between France and some Muslim countries over President Emmanuel Macron's Islamic remarks and Charlie Hebdo's publications of controversial cartoons. 

On Wednesday, Turkey vowed to take "legal, diplomatic actions" over a cartoon of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Charlie Hebdo.

The cartoon depicted Turkey's president lifting the clothes of a veiled woman.