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Backlash over ex-PM's 'disturbing' France terror attack remarks

Malaysia’s former prime minister has caused anger after comments he made in the wake of France terror attacks.

A knife-wielding attacker shouting "Allahu Akbar" beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a suspected terrorist attack at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday.

Another incident unfolded just hours after the knife attack.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been criticised for comments made after terror attacks in France. Source: Getty Images, file

French police shot dead a man in Montfavet, near the city of Avignon in southern France, after he had threatened passersby with a handgun, police said.

Following the deadly attack, Mahathir Mohamad, the former PM of Malaysia, said Muslims have a right to "kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past", but he did not approve of the killing of a French teacher over his use of cartoons of the Prophet.

In a blog post, 95-year-old Mr Mahathir, a respected leader in the Muslim world, said he believed in freedom of expression, but it should not be used to insult others.

"Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past. But by and large the Muslims have not applied the 'eye for an eye' law. Muslims don't. The French shouldn't," Mr Mahathir wrote in a blog post, which he also posted on Twitter.

"Since you have blamed all Muslims and the Muslims' religion for what was done by one angry person, the Muslims have a right to punish the French.”

Twitter said the message violated its rules about glorifying violence, but it determined it may be in the public's interest for the post to remain.

This latest deadly attack in France comes after a teacher was beheaded in Paris earlier this month.

The teacher had reportedly shown pupils in his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, imagery which is considered by Muslims to be blasphemous.

A police investigator stands by the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice.
Police outside the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice after the attack. Source: Getty Images

Australian High Commissioner disturbed by comments

Andrew Goledzinowski, the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the comments.

“I know that he has not, and would not, advocated actual violence. But in the current climate, words can have consequences,” he tweeted.

Malaysian cleric and politician Fathul Bari Mat Jahya called for the former prime minister to delete his comments.

“Islam does not teach its people to punish in bulk,” he tweeted.

Several Muslim-majority countries have denounced remarks by French officials, including President Emmanuel Macron, defending the use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in the classroom.

Officials said the killing was an attack on the core French value of freedom of expression and defended the right to publish the cartoons.

Mr Macron has also said he would redouble efforts to stop conservative Islamic beliefs subverting French values.

with Reuters and AFP

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