A Twitter user accused of encouraging others to decapitate anyone who insulted Islam has told a jury he retweeted praise for a terrorist “just to have some more followers”.

Ajmal Shahpal told Birmingham Crown Court he did not believe that the killer of French school teacher Samuel Paty was “as brave as a lion” or that the victim “deserved to be killed” in France in October 2020.

Prosecutors allege Shahpal, of Birkin Avenue, Radford, Nottingham, encouraged others to commit, prepare, or instigate acts of terrorism in a series of retweets, including one containing an image of Mr Paty’s severed head.

Shahpal, 41, is also alleged to have tweeted messages backing a Pakistan-based political party which supported the “out-of-hand murder of those who it thinks have committed blasphemy”.

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Dan Pawson-Pounds on Monday, Shahpal, who is originally from Pakistan and was assisted by an Urdu interpreter, denied pretending to have a poor understanding of English to try to escape responsibility for his tweets.

Mr Pawson-Pounds told Shahpal, who passed a taxi exam and studied for a diploma in English and business management after coming to the UK in 2009: “The Crown suggests that you were a radicalised follower of extreme Islam and that you both supported and encouraged the murder of people for what you considered to be blasphemy.

“You used your Twitter account to encourage people to do this by saying on that account repeatedly that blasphemers should be killed and should be killed immediately.”

After the defendant accepted that Mr Paty did not deserve to die and that the teacher’s killer was not “as brave as a lion” – contradicting statements in one of his retweets – Mr Pawson-Round asked him: “Why did you retweet a tweet saying all these things then?”

Shahpal responded: “As I have already told you, the reason behind this was just to have some more followers.

“At the time when I retweeted it, that picture (of a severed head) wasn’t fully open at that time on the feed of Twitter.

“So at the time I did not know what picture it was that I was retweeting.”

Claiming he had only read the first line of the message before retweeting it, Shahpal added: “I did not fully read it.

“What I have read, it did not say that his chopped off head was lying on the floor.

“A friend of mine who set up this account for me, he told me that if you do this, you are going to get more followers.”

Questioned about a further tweet which called for rapists to be stoned to death, Shahpal said it did not accord with his beliefs and he had “just copied and pasted” a message written in English “because the issue was ongoing” in Pakistan.

After Shahpal denied that he had intended to encourage terrorism, he was asked if he had realised there would be a risk that his tweets would encourage acts of terror.

Shahpal answered: “I was just posting them (tweets). I didn’t have a clue.”

Later in his evidence, asked about a tweet containing a call for someone to be “killed immediately”, Shahpal added: “My English is not that good. I just copied and pasted.”

The defendant denies two counts of encouraging others to commit, prepare, or instigate acts of terrorism, and two alternative charges of the same offence being reckless as to whether such acts would be encouraged.

The trial continues.

French schools have paid tribute to a teacher beheaded by a radical Islamist last year after he showed caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class.

Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher, was murdered on October 16 near his school in a north-west Paris suburb by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin who had become radicalised. The attacker was later shot dead by police.

The two-day national homage includes a minute’s silence held in schools on Friday, with teachers to organise a discussion in classes on the memory of Mr Paty.

“We must not succumb to fear,” Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said in a speech at a Paris high school, adding the French republic will not abandon its “values of freedom and democracy”.

“Samuel Paty was doing what was expected from a teacher: transmit knowledge.” He “wanted to teach his students to think by themselves … We will never forget him”, Mr Blanquer said. Some classrooms and schools will be named after the teacher.

Earlier on Friday, the rector of the Paris Grand Mosque and about 20 imams laid a wreath in homage to Mr Paty outside his school in Conflans-Saint-Honorine, with a banner reading: “Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, hatred leads to violence.”

Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Paris Grand Mosque, said: “We are sad and angry at the same time. Sad because a man has been killed, survived by an orphan … No matter the reasons, one can’t kill a man in the name of Islam. It’s impossible, it’s the very antithesis of what Islam is about in all the Koran verses.”

A ceremony will take place on Saturday at the Ministry of Education, where a plaque honouring Mr Paty will be unveiled.

His family will also meet President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Jean Castex, and a gathering will be organised near the teacher’s school.

The killing led French authorities to reaffirm France’s cherished rights of expression and secularism.

Mr Paty’s name was disclosed on social media after a class debate on free expression during which he showed caricatures published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which triggered a newsroom massacre by extremists in January 2015.

Authorities have identified Mr Paty’s killer as Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Moscow-born Chechen refugee. Anzorov claimed responsibility in a text accompanied by a photograph of the victim found on his phone.

Sixteen people have since been charged in the case, most of them for “complicity in a terrorist murder” or “criminal association”.

They include five students of Mr Paty’s school, all minors, accused of having helped the killer in exchange for promises of payments of 300-350 euros.

The investigation established that the attacker knew the name of the teacher and the address of his school but he did not have the means to identify him.

The suspects also include a student’s father who posted videos on social media that called for mobilisation against the teacher. His daughter has been charged with defamation.

An Islamist activist who helped the man disseminate the virulent messages naming Mr Paty has also been charged in the case.

French anti-terrorism investigators said that an 18-year-old woman arrested over the Easter weekend was suspected of planning an attack on a church.

New details have emerged about the teen, who was living in Beziers, in southern France, and is suspected of plotting an attack targeting nearby Montpellier over Easter.

On Thursday, anti-terrorism officials said that during a search of her home they found a photo of the schoolteacher beheaded by a radical Islamist in October.

Samuel Paty was murdered after showing caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class.

Officials also said that bomb-making materials were found in the apartment, as well as photos of “armed jihadists”, a diagram of a nearby church and handwritten notes referring to the Nazis and the Islamic State group.

The teenager, who has not been identified, was not previously known to authorities.

Authorities stressed that no constructed explosives were found.

Read more: New arrest by French investigators probing church attack in Nice

Students helped killer find teacher who was beheaded, says French prosecutor

A group of French Muslims decided to stand guard outside their town’s cathedral to protect it and show solidarity with Catholic churchgoers.

Muslim residents in the southern French town of Lodeve organised the initiative as a gesture of peace after a deadly Islamic extremist attack on a church in the French city of Nice.

They stood guard outside the Lodeve cathedral for the All Saints’ holiday weekend, and hope to do the same for Christmas.

The cathedral’s priest and churchgoers welcomed the gesture, which also comes amid tensions between France and the Muslim world.

French-born Muslim Elyazid Benferhat said his stomach turned when he heard about the attack in Nice.

A self-described man of peace and pragmatism, Mr Benferhat and a friend gathered a group of young Muslim men to stand guard outside their town’s cathedral.

Parishioners at the 13th-century church were deeply touched. The parish priest said their gesture gave him hope in a time of turmoil.

Mr Benferhat identified himself as “more French than anything”. While his mother was born in Algeria, he was born in France and grew up speaking only French.

“But I am also Muslim… and we have seen Islamophobia in this country, and terrorism,” he said.

“In recent years, I’ve had a pit in my stomach,” because every time Islamic extremist violence strikes France, he said, French Muslims face new stigmatisation, even though “we had nothing to do with it”.

He called the beheading of a teacher near Paris last month an act of “unbelievable, unprecedented cruelty”.

Then when three people were killed last Thursday in the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, Mr Benferhat said he was so sickened that he wanted to do something “so that everyone wakes up”.

Mr Benferhat, who works for French oil company Total and coaches at a local football club, talked to a Muslim friend who was in Nice that day. He said: “We had this idea. We needed to do something beyond paying homage to the victims. We said, we will protect churches ourselves.”

They recruited volunteers among their friends and at his football club, and guarded the church that night and again for Sunday mass. He said they also co-ordinated with local police, after France’s government promised to increase security at sensitive religious sites.

“It’s very good, these young people who are against violence,” said the cathedral’s priest, Luis Iniguez.

When a local newspaper published a photo of parishioners posing with their Muslim guards, the priest hung it inside the Gothic cathedral, which serves as an anchor for town life. “People were happy to see that,” he said.

The small-town gesture drew national attention, and with it, online invective from some far-right voices.

But Mr Benferhat said the response has been “90% positive”.

His group is considering how to take the idea forward, and would like to do it again for Christmas, and for other towns to follow Lodeve’s lead. But for now all religious services in France are banned at least until December 1 to try to slow the fast-rising coronavirus infections.

Whatever he does next, he said “it will come from the heart”.

Read More: New arrests by French investigators probing church attack in Nice

French militant group and mosque to close after attack on Samuel Paty

Suspect in French beheading terror attack was Chechen teenager

The 18-year-old suspected killer of a French teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class paid students to help him identify the victim, France’s terrorism prosecutor has said.

Prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old are among seven people who appeared before an investigating magistrate on accusations of complicity in murder in relation with a terrorist undertaking, and criminal conspiracy.

The suspect in Friday’s killing of teacher Samuel Paty, who was attacked and beheaded near Paris, offered students at the school 300 to 350 euros (£267 to £311) to help him pick out, Mr Ricard said during a news conference on Wednesday.

“The investigation has established that the perpetrator knew the name of the teacher, the name of the school and its address, yet he did not have the means to identify him,” the prosecutor said.

“That identification has only been possible with the help of students from the same school.

“That’s why the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has decided to prosecute two under-18 minors whose implication in the identification of the victim for the killer has appeared to be conclusive.”

A terror investigation is under way into Mr Paty’s killing.

Authorities have identified the killer as Abdoullakh Anzorov., an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee who was later shot dead by police.

The surviving suspects also include a student’s father who posted videos on social media that called for mobilisation against the teacher and an Islamist activist who helped the man disseminate the virulent messages, which named Mr Paty and gave the school’s address, Mr Ricard said.

Two more men are accused of having helped the attacker by accompanying him when he bought weapons including a knife and an airsoft gun that were found near the 18-year-old’s body, according to the prosecutor.

Another suspect had close contacts with the attacker and endorsed radical Islamism, Mr Ricard said.

The French government issued an order on Wednesday morning to dissolve domestic militant Islamic group the Collective Cheikh Yassine.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said it was “implicated, linked to Friday’s attack” and was used to promote anti-republican hate speech.

Other groups will be dissolved “in the coming weeks” for similar reasons, Mr Attal said.

Named after an assassinated leader of the Palestinian Hamas, Collective Cheikh Yassine was founded in the early 2000s by an Islamist activist who is among the seven people accused of being accomplices to the attacker.

Mr Attal also confirmed the government ordered a mosque in the north-east Paris suburb of Pantin to close for six months.

It is being punished for relaying the angry father’s message on social media.

Authorities say it has long had an imam following the Salafist path, a rigorous interpretation of the Muslim holy book.

A national memorial event is scheduled to be held Wednesday evening in the courtyard of the Sorbonne university.

Read More here: French militant group and mosque to close after killing

Suspect in French beheading was Chechen in origin

Demonstrations across France to mark the killing of Samuel Paty

Demonstrations have been called around France in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to a history teacher who was beheaded near Paris after discussing caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed with his class.

Samuel Paty was decapitated on Friday by an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee, who was then shot dead by police.

Political leaders, associations and unions will rally on Sunday afternoon in Paris and other major cities including Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes, Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux.

The gatherings come as French authorities said they have detained a 10th person following the horrific attack in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north-west of Paris.

French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said an investigation for murder with a suspected terrorist motive has been opened.

At least four of those detained are family members of the attacker, who had been granted a 10-year residency in France as a refugee in March, was armed with a knife and an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets.

His half-sister joined the Islamic State group in Syria in 2014, Mr Ricard said. He did not give her name, and it is not clear where she is now.

The prosecutor said a text claiming responsibility and a photograph of the victim were found on the suspect’s phone.

He also confirmed that a Twitter account under the name Abdoulakh A belonged to the suspect. It posted a photo of the decapitated head minutes after the attack along with the message “I have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down”.

The attack has provoked global condemnation.

US President Donald Trump referred to the killing on Saturday night during a political rally in Janesville, Wisconsin.

“On behalf of the United States, I’d like to extend my really sincere condolences to a friend of mine, President (Emmanuel) Macron of France, where they just yesterday had a vicious, vicious Islamic terrorist attack – beheading an innocent teacher near Paris,” he said. “France is having a hard time and Macron’s a great guy.”

Read more: Suspect in French beheading horror was Chechen teenager