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—The storm of hatred became so great that Mila, 18, was forced to change schools.
–Photo: Francois Mori / TT NEWS AGENCY–
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French teenager Mila criticized Islam in videos on Instagram and Tiktok.
She ended up in the middle of a hate storm where the whole family was placed under police protection.
13 people who threatened and harassed her now risk imprisonment.
“You deserve to have your throat cut.” That was the message in one of all the messages addressed to Mila, now 18, after videos she posted on Instagram and Tiktok last year.
The video on Tiktok with condescending words about Islam she made after the notorious murder of the teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in October last year.
Cut off the teacher’s head
The murder took place near the school where he worked. The teacher then had his head cut off. The suspected perpetrator, Abdullakh Anzoroven, an 18-year-old Russian with a Chechen background, was shot dead by police.
Some time before the assassination, Samuel Paty gave a lecture on freedom of speech in which he showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The video on Tiktok was not the first time that Mila aired opinions about Islam, the French news agency AFP reports according to The Guardian.
Already in January 2020, as a 16-year-old, she did a live broadcast on Instagram where she stated, among other things, that she hates religions and that “the Koran is only full of hatred and that Islam is a terrible religion”.
The reason for the outburst must have been a homophobic comment she received from a follower.
The storm of hatred against the teenager quickly became so strong that she was forced to change schools and the whole family was placed under police protection. The girl’s story led to debate in France on freedom of speech and how to deal with some people’s strong feelings about religion.
Mila has received support from many French people who think it is important to stand up for freedom of expression even when it hurts some – but also by forces on the far right.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Assembly, praised Mila after the first protest storm in January 2020.
Even Emmanuel Macron commented on the case of the girl.
– We have the right to blasphemy, criticism and caricatures of religions, he said in support of her.
Drawn into an angry mood
The spread of the Tiktok video in a situation where many demonstrations were held in Muslim countries against the French attitude towards the caricatures, made the teenager even more in the middle of the political hot air.
“Islamists want our future,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after the assassination of Paty.
– What can be said about a head of state who treats millions of people from other faith groups like this? First of all, take a psychic test, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech.
In the angry atmosphere, images of Macron in Syria were burned, the French flag was set on fire in Libya and the French ambassador to Tehran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Mila and her videos on Instagram and Tiktok have become a symbol in the small things of how hot the feelings are about how condescending you can be about religions.
“I will give you the same treatment as Samuel Paty”, was one of the threats Mila received on social media.
100,000 messages with hate
The investigation was finally able to identify 13 people, ten men and three women, aged 18 to 30, who were charged with online harassment and in some cases death threats.
On Thursday, a large press contingent met Mila when the trial began, states AFP.
Her lawyer Richard Malka said in her speech to the court that she had received “more than 100,000 hate-filled messages and death threats stating that she would be tied, stabbed, cut, beheaded with pictures of coffins and manipulated photos that showed her beheaded”.
“I can not understand that these 13 people who have all gone through our school system do not know that it is legal to criticize religions and that it has nothing to do with racism,” he continued. according to AFP.
On French radio, Malka said before the trial that none of the accused have been convicted of crimes before.
– What is frightening about this case is that it is not about criminals and fanatics, he said according to the BBC.
Blame on Twitter
Defense lawyers for the 13 accused believe that they undeservedly have to take the blame for everyone who uses the anonymity that social media offers, states AFP.
– My client is completely devastated by this. He had a quick and stupid reaction, something that happens every day on Twitter, says Gérard Chemla, representative of one of the accused.
Two people have previously been sentenced to prison for threatening to kill the 18-year-old.
