France church attackers ‘smiled’ and spoke of Koran

One of the jihadists who murdered an elderly French priest smiled as he carried out the attack, and nuns who witnessed the grisly murder said the killers spoke about the Koran.

Published: 30 July 2016 12:16 CEST

France church attackers 'smiled' and spoke of Koran

Three nuns were in the church when Father Jacques Hamel was killed. Photo: AFP

The two nuns who were in the church when Father Jacques Hamel was killed, his throat slit on the altar, said the men appeared aggressive and nervous during the attack at the Eglise Saint-Etienne in Normandy on July 26th.

Then, one of the attackers seemed pleased.

“I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy,” nun Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie on Friday.

Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and both were killed by police in the shock attack.

The men stormed the 17th-century stone church during mass in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking several hostages before killing the priest and seriously wounding another captive.

One nun fled the scene and alerted the police, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, in the church with the jihadists.

At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down.

“I asked for my cane, he gave it to me,” she said.

Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Koran.

“Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I've read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace,” Sister Helene responded.

One of the attackers replied: “Peace, it's what we want… as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop.”

Neighbours and acquaintances said Kermiche was “obsessed” with going to Syria, where an international coalition including France is carrying out air strikes against the IS jihadist group.

“Are you afraid to die?” one of the attackers asked.

The nun said no, then he said: “Why?”

“I believe in God, and I know I will be happy” Sister Helene said, as she quietly prayed to herself.

Then they started talking about God.

“Jesus cannot be God and a man. It is you who are wrong,” one of the men said.

“Maybe, but too bad,” Sister Huguette replied.

At that moment, she prepared for her own death, not knowing what was coming next.

“Thinking I was going to die, I offered my life to God” she added.

The report – released on the eve of the World Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia – documents a 13 percent jump in anti-LGBTQ offences from 2022.

More serious crimes including assaults, threats, and harassment saw a 19 percent increase, with 2,870 instances recorded by French authorities.

“It feels like the embers of LGBTI-phobia have been lit, and now the fire is ready to take hold,” said president of French activist group SOS Homophobie Julia Torlet.

“What worries us most are the emerging trends…we are extremely concerned,” Torlet added, saying “if the government doesn’t act” France risks backsliding into the violence seen in 2013 over the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

The number of anti-LGBTQ incidents has risen sharply – about 17 percent on average each year for crimes and misdemeanours – since 2016, according to the interior ministry.

But these figures only paint part of the picture.

Men account for the majority of both victims and perpetrators in anti-LGBTQ incidents, accounting for 70 and 82 percent, respectively.

Moreover, the perpetrators are predominately young, with nearly half of all accused under 30 and more than a third under 19, says the report.

While the report says victims are now “better received” by authorities, only 20 percent of those subjected to threats or violence and five percent of victims of verbal abuse file a complaint.

“We’re past the worry stage,” spokesman for Stop Homophobie Maxime Haes told AFP.

Anti-LGBTQ acts are linked to the “drastic increase in LGBT-phobic discourse,” said Haes, which he says are fuelled by “the rise of the far right and religious extremism”.

The owner of a bar in Nantes, a city in western France, told regional newspaper Ouest-France it cancelled an LGBTQ-friendly event in early May over safety concerns after a poster featuring individuals in religious habits sparked an “outpouring of hate” online.

And in France, 60 percent of people avoid holding hands with same-sex partners for fear of being assaulted, according to a 2024 report from the European Agency for Fundamental Rights.

The country has also seen a spike in transphobic discourse, Haes said.

SOS Homophobie has denounced what it calls “abysmal government silence” and criticised the lack of “ambitious policy” on LGBTQ issues even after the appointment of out gay Prime Minister Gabriel Attal earlier this year.

“Hate speech is not being combatted at all by politicians,” Haes of Stop Homophobie added.