France’s anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted eight people of involvement in the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty outside his school near Paris four years ago, a horrific death that shocked the country.

Verdicts are set to be delivered in the cases of eight people accused of helping the man who murdered French teacher Samuel Paty.

Samuel Paty was killed by an Islamic extremist outside his school, days after showing his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a debate on free expression.

Samuel Paty was beheaded in 2020 by an Islamist extremist after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students to illustrate free speech.

Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, were convicted of complicity in murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison each. Boudaoud was accused of driving attacker Abdoullakh Anzorov to the school while Epsirkhanov helped him procure weapons.

France’s anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted eight people of involvement in the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty four years ago.

Paty was killed by an Islamic extremist in 2020, after showing his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a mandated lesson on freedom of expression.

A French court sentenced eight people to prison terms ranging from one to 16 years for their roles in a hate campaign that culminated in the murder of a teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in class,

Eight individuals have been convicted over their roles in the 2020 beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty. FRANCE 24's Claire Paccalin was at the courtroom in the French capital.

Days after Samuel Paty, 47, showed his pupils the caricatures in October 2020, an 18-year-old Chechen assailant stabbed and beheaded him outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris. The assailant was shot dead by police moments after.