Mouood Mouood English Edition
A young French Muslim woman who lost three family members in the July 14 Takfiri attack on Nice made an impassioned plea on Monday not to confuse the Islamic faith with terrorism.
Yasmine Bouzegan Marzouk, 21, told a national ceremony in tribute to the French victims of terror attacks that they were carried out by “barbarians who do not follow the law, faith or religion”.
“On July 14th, this national holiday, our lives were changed forever,” she added, her voice breaking with emotion as tears streamed down her face.
“We are from a Muslim family and no one should make the link (between Islam and the attacks),” she said.
Bouzegan Marzouk, who herself survived the attack, recalled how one of her relatives, 13-year-old Mehdi Hachadi, was crushed under the wheels of the truck that sped through the crowd on the Nice waterfront.
“The life of a child who had such a promising future was snatched away. He was brought up in the Muslim faith which says we should respect others and show tolerance,” she said.
The truck was driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian who the ISIS group said was one of its followers.
Marzouk called on French President Francois Hollande “and his successors” to “put a halt once and for all to these acts of savagery… so that the terror to which French citizens are subjected will end and hatred can no longer be stoked by different religions.”
