07/28/2016, 15.09
FRANCE-ISLAM
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Second terrorist who murdered Fr. Jacques Hamel identified: a 19 year old youth

The young man had tried to go to Syria to fight with the Islamic State. In a video, Abdel Malik Nabil Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, the two terrorists, swear allegiance to the "Caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Religious representatives in France: No to religious war. Muslim thinkers: To defeat Isis, guarantee religious freedom for non-Muslim communities in Islamic countries. Others ask for the revision of alliances with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, supporters of the Wahabi jihadism and indirect supporters of the Islamic State.

Paris (AsiaNews) - French police have now identified the second terrorist who two attacked the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, days ago killing the priest, Fr. Jacques Hamer, who was celebrating Mass, wounding worshipers and others.

He is Abdel Malik Nabil Petitjean, born in 1996 in Saint-Die-des-Vosges. The 19 year old had no records and because of this police had no data, or DNA, making him difficult to identify. In any case, the young man was under observation because he had attempted to go to Syria - via Turkey - to fight next to the militants of the Islamic State.

Abdel appears in a video released by the IS in which, hand in hand with Adel Kermiche – the other young attacker - they swear allegiance to the "Caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the supreme head of the IS (see photo).

Yesterday morning, the religious leaders of France met with President Francois Hollande, pushing their faithful to unity and to resist a "war of religion", as dictated by the IS. For Card. André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, French Muslims "should not get involved in the political game" of the IS, which wants to "put the children of the same family against each other".

Meanwhile, among all the expressions of solidarity, controversy has arisen over the message of Saudi Arabia condemning the "cowardly terrorist act ... rejected by Islam" who instead "calls for the protection of places of worship and forbids the violation of their sacredness". Some French point out that in Saudi Arabia, a US ally in the fight against terrorism, churches and other non-Muslim places of worship are prohibited, as well as prayer in private for non-Muslim communities.

Muslim intellectuals are asking that in order to defuse "religious violence" propagated by the IS war must be "declared on jihadists and action taken to show the true face of Muslims, starting with the recognition of the right for non-Muslims to live and practice their religion in freedom"in Islamic countries.

Other intellectuals instead ask for a revision of alliances with some countries that directly or indirectly support Wahabi jihadism, the Islam of the IS. In a commentary in Le Monde today, Bernard Hourcade, former research director of the CNRS wondered influence cannot be brought to bear on "our allies of Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait or Turkey to change their policy?". He continues: "The excellent political, economic, military (and sports ...) agreements which we have with these states give us a variety of effective ways to activate the logic of a defense policy against the jihadist networks, cutting off their power supply from the source".

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