Ten years on, France honors Father Jacques Hamel, murdered by two jihadists in his church

Stabbed eighteen times while celebrating mass in his church, France is paying tribute to Father Jacques Hamel, ten years after his assassination by two terrorists who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, is at the heart of Sunday’s commemorations, attended by members of the government, François Hollande, who was president of the Republic at the time of the attack, as well as around a hundred elected representatives.

A mass is being celebrated in the church where the 86-year-old parish priest was killed, presided over by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, head of the French Bishops’ Conference.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu gave a speech, according to Matignon, before a tribute was paid to the police officers, firefighters and SAMU emergency medical staff who were on the front line during the attack on July 26, 2016.

In a message posted on X, the national police in Seine-Maritime saluted the memory of Jacques Hamel as well as the “exemplary courage” of its officers who “faced the horror”.

“Today our thoughts are with him, his family, and all those who acted with humanity,” the message reads.

Bernard Cazeneuve, who was interior minister in 2016, recalls “the face of this man of peace, the courage of the BRI and the BAC who stopped the jihadists, [….]the grief that gripped the country, but also the fraternity of our people, beyond beliefs and affiliations, around human and republican values”.

“They are the cement of the house that is France,” he concludes.

The two 19-year-old attackers, Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, were shot dead by the police.

On March 9, 2022, three members of their entourage – Yassine Sebaihia, Farid Khelil and Jean-Philippe Steven Jean-Louis – were tried for “criminal terrorist conspiracy” and sentenced to eight, ten and thirteen years in prison respectively.

A fourth defendant, Rachid Kassim, who was absent from the trial and is believed to have been killed in Iraq in 2017, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.

Created in 2017 by the Federation of Catholic Media, the Father Jacques Hamel Prize each year rewards journalistic work that highlights peace, fraternity and dialogue between religions.

Additional sources • AFP