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.

A sketch of the Paris Special Assize Court shows, from left, defendants Abdelhakim Sefrioui, Louqmane Ingar, Azim Epsirkhanov, Priscilla Mangel and Brahim Chnina, second from right, in the trial of eight adults charged with driving a hate campaign that led to the murder of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020 [Benoit Peyrucq/AFP]

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.