One of the two jihadists who butchered an elderly French priest was all smiles as he carried out the execution – and also discussed religion with one of the captive nuns, who told him she was not afraid to die as she prayed.
“I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy,” Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie.
Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, were among the hostages held by 19-year-olds Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, who slit Rev. Jacques Hamel’s throat during Mass at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, on July 26.
The nuns said the ISIS wannabes – who were seen on video as they pledged allegiance to the terror group — appeared aggressive and nervous during the attack before they began their holy dialogue.
At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked permission to sit down.
“I asked for my cane, he gave it to me,” she said, adding that the men then asked her if she was familiar with the Qur’an.
“‘Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I’ve read several Surahs. And those that hit me in particular are the Surahs about peace’” Sister Helene said she replied, referring to chapters in the Qur’an.
One of the attackers then said: “Peace, it’s what we want… as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop.”
One of the attackers then asked Sister Helene: “Are you afraid to die?”
The nun said “No.” He then asked: “Why?”
“I believe in God, and I know I will be happy,” she replied as she prayed silently before they discussed God.
“Jesus cannot be God and a man. It is you who are wrong,” one of the men said.
“‘Maybe, but too bad,’” Sister Huguette replied. “Thinking I was going to die, I offered my life to God.”
Moments later, both jihadists were shot dead by police.
Petitjean was spotted by Turkish authorities June 10 as he tried to reach Syria to join ISIS. He returned to France the next day for reasons that remain unclear and was put on a terror watch list June 29.
Kermiche set off for Syria in March 2015 using his brother’s passport, but was stopped by German authorities and sent back to France, where he was given a conditional parole as he awaited trial.
Two months later, he tried to reach Syria again, this time via Turkey, but was stopped again and and jailed in France until March 2016, when he was fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet.
The device allowed him to roam free between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. – an electronic window of opportunity he took advantage of to attack the church, officials said.
In other developments:
- Muslim and Christian groups held vigils Saturday for the 85-year-old priest and authorities charged a 19-year-old man in connection with the brutal attack. The man was accused of “criminal conspiracy with terrorists” after police found a cell phone video of one of the assailants at his home.
- L’Express magazine revealed that Kermiche had described the planned attack on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. “You take a knife, you go into a church. Bam!” says the message recorded just a few days before the attack.
- Muslims in France refused to bury Kermiche because he killed the beloved priest. “We’re not going to taint Islam with this person,” Mohammed Karabila, president of the local Muslim cultural association, told Le Parisien.
- A friend of Kermiche had been detained only days before the attack took place, the BBC reported. The unnamed 17-year-old, who tried to travel to Syria with his pal, was arrested in Geneva this month and handed over to French authorities. A source told AFP that “nothing suggests he was in any way implicated” in the church attack.
- Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative former president who narrowly lost to Francois Hollande in 2012, has called for preventive detention in “closed centers” for the most dangerous Islamist suspects. But Prime Minister Manuel Valls slammed his draconian proposal.
“My government will not be the one that creates a French Guantanamo,” Valls lashed back, the Sunday Times of London reported.