Malaysian former PM says Muslims ‘have right to kill French’

Amid outpouring of solidarity for France in the wake of the Nice attack, Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has defended Muslims’ “right to kill millions of French people”.

His blog post on Thursday, titled “Respect Others”, did not mention the Nice attack, but started with reference to the killing of Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was recently beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen radical.

“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. Instead the French should teach their people to respect other people’s feelings,” he wrote.

He accused French President Emmanuel Macron of not being civilised and “primitive”.

“It is not in keeping with the teachings of Islam. But irrespective of the religion professed, angry people kill. The French in the course of their history has killed millions of people. Many were Muslims,” he wrote.

“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,” he said, addressing Macron.

“The boycott cannot compensate the wrongs committed by the French all these years,” he added, referring to the call in the Muslim world to boycott French products after Macron defended freedom of expression.

Pope Francis prayed for the victims of Thursday’s attack in Nice, as the Vatican said “terrorism and violence can never be accepted”.

“Today’s attack has sown death in a place of love and consolation. The Pope is aware of the situation and is close to the mourning Catholic community,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. “He prays for the victims and their loved ones, so that the violence may cease, so that we may return to look upon ourselves as brothers and sisters and not as enemies”, he said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood with France. “I am deeply shaken by the brutal murders in the church in Nice. My thoughts are with the relatives of those murdered and injured. Germany stands with France at this difficult time,” she said, in a tweet posted by her spokesman Steffen Seibert.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the French people “you are not alone”. In a French message posted on Twitter he said: “We say to the French people: In the fight against extremism you are not alone. The Netherlands stands beside you.”