A teacher was suspended this week in Brussels for showing his 10-11-year-old students a cartoon published by Charlie Hebdo showing the Prophet Muhammad naked on all fours, which was deemed "
obscene
" by his leadership.
Read also: Apology for terrorism: the overwhelming numbers of online hatred since the assassination of Samuel Paty
The information, revealed by the daily La Libre Belgique, was confirmed on Friday, October 30 by the spokesperson for the mayor of Molenbeek, the Brussels municipality where the facts occurred.
According to this spokesperson, Rachid Barghouti, “
two or three parents
” complained to the management of this primary school that a drawing showing the genitals of the prophet was brandished in front of “
children of 5th and 6th primary
” (both last levels of primary, editor's note).
As part of a course on freedom of expression, after the assassination this month of a French teacher who showed his teenage students several caricatures of Muhammad, the teacher chose to show one of the drawings of this lot, already published by the French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Disciplinary proceedings in progress
Reported to the school director, his initiative was denounced by the latter to the supervisory authority, namely the elected members of the municipal executive.
The teacher "
was heard Thursday by the municipal college and dismissed
", explained Rachid Barghouti.
“
It is not a sanction, it amounts to launching the disciplinary procedure
,” he added.
A new hearing before the same elected officials is scheduled next Thursday to decide on a possible sanction.
"
Our decision is solely based on the fact that these are obscene images, if it had not been for the prophet we would have taken exactly the same decision
", said the spokesperson for Catherine Moureaux, the mayor. socialist who manages the city in coalition with the French-speaking liberals.
To read also: Terrorism: the failures of the police in Molenbeek
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a popular commune of about 100,000 inhabitants, with a large community of Moroccan origin, acquired the reputation of being a breeding ground for jihadism in Europe, when the Franco-Belgian investigation into the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015 (130 dead) revealed that several attackers were from there.
According to Rachid Barghouti, discussing freedom of expression at school "
is important, there is no censorship in relation to that
".
But "
it must be done in a framework that is a little thought out, considered
".
"
Showing obscene images in such a brutal way to such young children is not very smart from an educational point of view,
" he insisted.
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Through Samuel Paty, all teachers are targeted
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