Murder of Tunisian man sparks France's first far-right terrorism investigation

Hichem Miraoui, a 46-year-old hairdresser, was shot dead in Puget-sur-Argens, southern France, on Saturday.

Shock over the murder of a Tunisian hairdresser in a village near the French Riviera last weekend continues to reverberate throughout the Western European country, as authorities condemn the crime as fuelled by hatred.After the 46-year-old Hichem Miraoui was shot dead near his home in Puget-sur-Argens in southern France on Saturday, one of his neighbours has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a man of Turkish background was also injured. In videos posted on Facebook shortly before his arrest, the suspect, identified as Christophe B, 53, used racist language and appeared to incite French citizens to conduct further acts of violence against Muslims. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Tuesday that the murder was “clearly a racist crime”, “probably also anti-Muslim” and “perhaps also a terrorist crime”. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT), which opened in 2019, launched a probe into the killing this week, the first time it has done so for a murder that is thought to have been inspired by far-right ideology. Since Miraoui’s murder, Muslim communities across France have spoken of their sadness and fear.In a statement released on Tuesday, the Rhône Council of Mosques said the crime was indicative of the “troubling and increasingly hostile climate toward citizens of Muslim faith in France”. Meanwhile, Hafiz Chems-Eddine, Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, called for “urgent, national awareness of the dangers of xenophobic, racist, and Islamphobic rhetoric”.“It is time to question the promoters of this hatred, who, in the political and media spheres, operate with impunity and lead to extremely serious incidents,” he said. Islamic leaders also made a connection between Miraoui’s murder and the fatal stabbing of the 22-year-old Malian Aboubakar Cissé in a mosque in southern France on 25 April. In a video filmed while Cissé was dying, his French attacker criticised Islam.