Teacher tells father of fears for his life over Prophet Muhammad row  

The father of the RE teacher at the centre of a blasphemy row after allegedly showing students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad fears says his son fears he will be murdered and will never be able to return to his old life.

The teacher, in his 20s, who is not being named, has gone into hiding with his partner after receiving death threats.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, his father said: ‘My son keeps breaking down crying and says that it’s all over for him. 

‘He is worried that he and his family are all going to be killed.

‘He knows that he’s not going to be able to return to work or live in Batley. It’s just going to be too dangerous for him and his family.

‘Look what happened to the teacher in France who was killed for doing the same thing. Eventually they will get my son and he knows this. His whole world has been turned upside down. He’s devastated and crushed. 

‘When he starts speaking, he just breaks down and cries. He’s become an emotional wreck.

‘He feels that everything is broken and to be honest, it’s hard to console him at the moment because that is the truth.’

The Batley Grammar School teacher sparked fury by allegedly showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a RE lesson. Pictured: Protesters outside the school on Friday

It prompted a wave of protests last week with those taking part in a prayer outside the school in Batley, West Yorkshire. The school was shut down and the unnamed teacher was suspended

It prompted a wave of protests last week with those taking part in a prayer outside the school in Batley, West Yorkshire. The school was shut down and the unnamed teacher was suspended 

The teacher also criticised Batley Grammar School for its handling of the incident.

In the immediate aftermath, the school suspended him and Headteacher Gary Kibble apologised to parents for the ‘inappropriate’ use of the cartoons, taken from the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

However, his father fumed: ‘The school has thrown my son under a bus. The lesson that he delivered in which the picture of the Prophet Muhammad was shown was part of the curriculum, it had been approved by the school. Other teachers have done exactly the same thing.

‘So why is my son being victimised like this? The school should have come out fighting for him and made it clear to the protestors that if offence was caused, then it was not my son’s fault. It was the school’s policy to show this picture, it wasn’t an individual decision made by him.’ 

He revealed that a CCTV camera had been set up to monitor his son’s home after neighbours reported gangs of young men arriving at the property to look for him.

His father said: ‘Even if he gets his job back, how can he possibly return to Batley Grammar School? It will be far too risky. And how will he be able to walk around the town with his kids, doing normal things knowing that he could be killed?

‘Sadly, his life here in Batley is over and it’s very daunting for him to think about starting somewhere else afresh.’

The teacher’s mother has also gone into hiding following fears that other members of the family may also be attacked and is currently not staying at her marital home in Batley.

Protesters spoke to the Press during demonstrations at the school gates during the furore

Protesters spoke to the Press during demonstrations at the school gates during the furore 

He said: ‘My wife is petrified that we’ll also be targeted and has become a bag of nerves since all this happened. She’s unable to stay in our home. This whole incident has had a devastating impact on us, and we are all scared about the situation we find ourselves in.’

He revealed that a CCTV camera is also being set up at his home and that police officers have also visited to provide advice on how he and his wife can keep themselves safe.

Referring to the protestors that gathered outside Batley Grammar School, he said: ‘This issue obviously means a lot to them and I can understand that.

‘But the school and my son have issued a full apology, and both have said that they won’t allow the same thing to happen again. That should be the end of the matter and my son should be allowed to get on with his life.’ 

He described his son as a ‘stand up’ Yorkshireman who had worked hard throughout his life, holding down a job at a local supermarket to help him pay his way through university, where he studied Religious Education. 

The father said: ‘He balanced studying, bringing up kids and working in a local Tesco and has achieved a lot in his life. I can’t really fault him, he’s a fantastic son and a role model dad.’

He said that as a youngster his son was a keen amateur rugby player at Dewsbury Celtic Rugby League Club and is also a passionate supporter of Batley Rugby League Club, where he holds a season ticket.

He added: ‘He’s just a normal Yorkshire lad who loves his rugby and looks after his family. I’m very proud of him and it breaks my heart to see him so broken.’ 

The incident sent shockwaves around the Yorkshire school last week – but Muslim community leaders have now called on protests to stop.

Community leaders were concerned that with children, having had their education disputed over the past year due to Covid, they faced yet more missed lessons after the school was shut early for the Easter holidays. 

A petition in support of him keeping his job has been signed by 64,000 people. 

Now, leaders of nearby mosques revealed they have urged people to stay away from the gates after the school said it would carry out a formal investigation.

The French teacher beheaded for showing pupils Prophet cartoon  

The family of the Batley Grammar School teacher at the centre of the Prophet Muhammad picture row fear that he may meet the same fate as French man Samuel Paty, who was beheaded close to a school where he taught outside Paris.

Mr Paty, 47, a history and geography teacher was targeted for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his students and was killed in October 2020 outside the gates of the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north of the French capital.

His killing stunned France and led to an outpouring of support at memorial ceremonies and marches around the country with President Emmanuel Macron hailing him as ‘a quiet hero’ and ‘the face of the Republic.’ He also posthumously granted the teacher France’s highest civilian award, the Légion d’Honneur.

Mr Paty’s killer, Abdullakh Anzorov, 18 was shot dead by police shortly after the attack.

But seven people, including two students and a parent of one of Mr Paty’s pupils, were detained in the days following the killing.

Prosecutors later revealed that said six of the suspects had been charged with complicity in a terrorist murder and placed under judicial investigation, which is continuing.

As he had done in similar lessons on free speech in previous years, Mr Paty warned students that he was about to show a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. He said anyone who thought they might be offended could close their eyes.

Two teenage students, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were allegedly paid around €300 (£270; $355) by the killer to identify Mr Paty outside the school.

The killer told the students he wanted to ‘hit’ and ‘humiliate’ Mr Paty and ‘make him apologise for the cartoon of the Prophet [Muhammad].’

Prosecutors have also established that an online hate campaign was orchestrated against Mr Paty by a parent of one of his pupils, one of those arrested. He was also found to have exchanged WhatsApp messages with Anzorov in the days leading up to the attack.

Mr Paty’s funeral was attended by some 400 guests, including senior political figures while thousands attended rallies in his honour around the country.

Last December, Anzorov was buried in his native Chechnya with around 200 mourners attending the service and hailing him as a ‘lion of Islam.’

Snowdon Mosque chairman Akooji Badat said: ‘We’re working together with the parents and the teacher, and the school have been kind to all the sectors by suspending the teacher so there’s no real cause for a peaceful protest outside the school. 

‘The school has done its job and cooperated well with us.’

Speaking ‘on behalf of the Muslim community’, one protester said: ‘The teachers have breached the position of trust and failed their duty of safeguarding, and this issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency.’

However, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick called reports the teacher was in hiding ‘very disturbing’ and branded the protests ‘not right’, adding teachers must be free to ‘appropriately show images of the Prophet Mohammed’.

However, Dr Alyaa Ebbiary, a researcher in Islamic studies at the SOAS University of London, disagreed with Mr Jenrick’s comments.

‘From the majority Muslim community perspective it’s safe to say that showing images of the Prophet Muhammad would not be considered a ‘right’, but at best disrespectful, and at worst a provocation,’ she said.

‘For some pious Muslims, it’s so hurtful to the point of going beyond the realm of common decency – I know that’s hard for a Western liberal mindset to understand.

‘The matter of depicting a Prophet in images is very problematic in the Islamic tradition, and so creating images, in and of itself, is considered disrespectful to someone held to be sacred.’

West Yorkshire Police said a number of complaints have been made in relation to the incident. Officers attended both protests after dozens of people stood outside the school, partially blocking the road.

A police spokesperson said: ‘As might be expected given the high public profile of what has happened, there have been a number of complaints about various matters relating to this issue. 

‘These are being reviewed in more detail but this is an ongoing situation.’

It comes after MailOnline revealed that the RE teacher reportedly ‘defended his right to freedom of speech’ in a heated telephone call with the father of a Muslim pupil.

The teacher, who has not been named, is also disclosed as saying ‘British values allowed him to present a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad to his class of year nine students as part of their course work’.

The Muslim parent demanded to speak to the teacher after his year 9 son returned from school and reported the matter to him.  

When the teacher returned the call he told the father that he had warned his pupils that some would find it offensive, but his aim was to pose a question to his class.

He believed he was ‘right’ to show the cartoon which has offended Muslims across the world. He wanted to discuss whether the cartoonist was to blame or the terrorists who had committed murder over it in France after the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo had published it. 

The angry father said the teacher did not appear apologetic when told that showing the cartoon to his son was offensive and instead was ‘arrogant’. The teacher asked the father to voice his concerns to another staff member.

In a group WhatsApp message, shared among Islamic parents and protesters who have demonstrated outside the school and seen by MailOnline, the father said: ‘He should have known better.

‘I expressed I was not happy with his actions and he had caused offence to the community. He should have known better, after all these images caused international outrage.

‘He was not apologetic and was arrogant in his response that what he did was right. He stated that he knew some of the pupils would tell their parents.’