Moroccan police arrest man for allegedly threatening teacher in France
PARIS: Moroccan police have arrested a man suspected of sending death threats to a French philosophy teacher who has been in hiding since September after airing his thoughts about Islam in a newspaper, the daily Le Parisien reported Tuesday.
The paper, citing sources close to the investigation, said the suspect, a Moroccan in his 20s, was arrested Dec. 19 in his home country after returning from a trip to Libya.
He was trying to go to Iraq, Le Parisien said. It was not immediately possible to verify the newspaper's report. Robert Redeker, a high-school teacher in suburban Toulouse, southwest France, has been in hiding since shortly after he wrote an opinion piece criticizing Islam that was published in September in the daily Le Figaro.
The article drew death threats on an Internet site considered close to al-Qaida and also menacing e-mails, some containing photos of Redeker, a map of his home and his telephone numbers.
The arrest was the result of international cooperation, the paper quoted an investigator as saying. The paper did not name its sources.