The brother of a French Muslim police officer who was gunned down by terrorists in the Charlie Hebdo attack made an emotional appeal Saturday for tolerance.
The Guardian reports that Ahmed Merabet’s brother Malek Merabet paid tribute to Ahmed who sacrificed his life while countering terrorists.
“I address myself now to all the racists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites,” Merabet said on Saturday. “One must not confuse extremists with Muslims; mad people have neither colour nor religion.”
“Devastated by this barbaric act, we associate ourselves with the pain of the families of the victims,” he said adding, “I want to make another point: don’t tar everybody with the same brush, don’t burn mosques or synagogues. You are attacking people. It won’t bring our dead back and it won’t appease the families.”
Merabet said that Ahmed was French, from Algerian origin and a Muslim. Ahmed was proud to represent the police and defend the values of the Republic which are liberty, equality and fraternity. He said, “His colleagues describe him as a man of action who was passionate about his job.”
According to a report published by The Guardian, Ahmed was called to the scene of the attack while on a bicycle patrol and arrived just as the killers were making their escape.
“My brother was Muslim and he was killed by two terrorists, by two false Muslims,” the report quoted Merabet as saying. “Islam is a religion of peace and love.”
When the militants attacked the office of French weekly satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, Muslim cop Ahmed Merabet was also killed in the line of duty.
To show solidarity for the Charlie Hebdo victims, the world started trending #JeSuisCharlie (I am Charlie) but with the international media associating the terror attack to Islam, Muslims worldwide began trending #JeSuisAhmed (I am Ahmed).
The purpose of #JeSuisAhmed was to tell the world that ‘terrorism has no religion’, as put in by Ahmed’s brother, Malek Merabet.
