Irish Professor Stabbed To Death In Paris By Pakistani Student For ‘Insulting’ Prophet Mohammed  

An Irish professor John Downing was brutally stabbed to death by a Pakistani student for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed by displaying a drawing of him during class, Daily Mail has reported.

The incident happened outside the Leonardo de Vinci private university in La Defense business district of Paris where Downing taught. The 66-year-old academic was inflicted with 13 fatal stab injuries in the throat and chest during the bloodbath.

A 37-year-old Pakistani national, identified as Ali, has been arrested and will be indicted for committing the gruesome act of murder.

Ali confessed to the authorities that, while he killed Dowling to defend his faith against a perceived slight, he has also long maintained a personal animosity against the lecturer.

Catherine Denis, the government prosecutor involved in the case, said Ali harboured an ‘obsessive resentment’ against the university for kicking him out in September 2017.

“He came to France two years ago to join the management school, but did not pass his first year,” she said. “Since then he had been returning to the college, and had become unwanted to the point that he was not allowed in any more.”

However Ali’s explanation for carrying out the murder, cited Dowling’s display of a drawing of the Prophet Mohammed during class. "He produced a drawing, which he showed off in class, insulting the Prophet Mohammed," Ali said, according to Ms Denis.

Ali also claimed to police that the teacher had made fun of his Muslim religion during English classes at the university.

French authorities have not found any evidence so far to establish that Ali, a native of Pakistan, was radicalised by an Islamic terror organisation and they are currently dealing him as someone who is very religious, very pious, very practising Muslim.

Publishing any imagery of Prophet Mohammed is considered by Muslims as blasphemous and a grave insult to Islam.

In January 2015, two terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda brutally massacred 12 people at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, after it publishing cartoons of the Prophet.