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France: Muslims Refuse To Bury ISIS Priest Killer, Blast Islamic State Extremists

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 21:04 PST, Jul 30, 2016

Muslims in the hometown of Adel Kermiche, the ISIS priest killer, have refused to bury him. Kermiche was killed by police after he slit the throat of an elderly priest in a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France.

Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, both 19 years of age, took six people hostage in a church in the French town before killing the 86-year-old priest, Father Jacques Hamel, by slitting his throat during a morning mass at around 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

According to Sister Danielle, a nun who was in the church at the time, the ISIS priest killer forced Father Hamel to the ground before slitting his throat. The pair also seriously wounded another captive in the 17th-century stone church.

Both Kermiche and Petitjean were later shot dead by police as they exited the building using nuns as human shields.

Following the attack, ISIS claimed responsibility, calling the two teenagers “soldiers of the Islamic State.” The Islamic State’s Amaq propaganda agency later released a video showing the French attackers pledging allegiance to the terror group.

Now religious leaders in the French town are refusing to prepare or bury Kermiche’s body, stating they do not wish to “taint” Islam by having any connection with the ISIS priest killer.

The Daily Mercury quotes a report by the French newspaper Le Parisien where Mohammed Karabila, president of the local Muslim cultural association and imam at a local mosque, said, “We’re not going to taint Islam with this person.

“We won’t participate in preparing the body or the burial.”

Other Muslims in the town in Normandy, France, supported the decision. Khalid El Amrani, a 25-year-old technician, told the media he thought it was “normal” that the mosque would refuse to help with the burial, saying, “What this young man did is sinful; he is no longer part of our community.”

According to the New Jersey Herald, one imam, Abdelatif Hmitou, spoke out directly at the killers who had claimed to act in the name of Allah at Friday’s gathering in the mosque.

“You have the wrong civilization, because you are not a part of civilization. You have the wrong humanity, because you are not a part of humanity,” Hmitou said.

“You have the wrong idea about us (Muslims), and we won’t forgive you for this.

“How did the idea reach your mind that we might loathe those who helped us… to pray to Allah in this town? How could you think that, Mr. killer? Mr. criminal?” Hmitou added.

Reportedly it will now be up to the mayor’s office to ultimately decide whether Kermiche will be buried in the town where – according to family friend Jonathan Sacarabany – the ISIS priest killer grew up in a housing project.

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According to Sacarabany, the jihadist was originally born in Algeria. His mother is reportedly a professor and his sister is a doctor in Rouen. As yet, Kermiche’s family has not indicated whether they want a funeral for their son.

Fox News quotes a report in the Catholic newspaper La Vie where one of the nuns taken hostage by the terrorists in the church said one of the terrorists smiled as he carried out the attack.

“I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy,” Sister Huguette Peron said.

Reportedly at one point, the other nun, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. She told the newspaper that she asked for her cane and the terrorist gave it to her.

The two men then started talking about religion, asking Sister Helene if she was familiar with the Koran, to which she replied, “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.”

Reportedly one of the attackers then responded, “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.”

In the wake of the attack, the French government is coming under increasing criticism for failing to prevent the various atrocities, including the recent attack in Normandy.

Reportedly security services in the country were tipped off that Petitjean was planning an attack, but police were apparently unable to identify him from photos and video footage, which showed the terrorist declaring allegiance to the Islamic State terror organization.

Reportedly, he was already on France’s “fiche S” terror watch list after attempting to travel to Syria in June, but managed to re-enter France after being stopped by Turkish authorities.

It turns out Kermiche was also known to French security services after wearing an electronic surveillance tag when on bail, as he awaited trial for membership of a terror organization.

The latest attack comes less than a fortnight after the bloody terror attack in Nice, where a Tunisian man killed 84 and injured 300 more while driving a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day.

[Photo by AP Photo/Francois Mori]

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