The French government said Wednesday it was still trying to authenticate a statement purportedly made by Islamic militants holding two French journalists hostage that called Paris an "enemy of Muslims". "We are still analyzing the message to verify its authenticity. At this stage, we cannot draw any definitive conclusions," government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told reporters.| "This statement can't possibly be real. We've done everything they asked!" |
"We continue to work cautiously and confidently, with our main concern being the safety of our countrymen," he added.| For the love of Allan, stay cool!" |
The hostage-takers initially demanded that Paris rescind its ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves and other "conspicuous" religious insignia in state schools, but the law went into effect on September 2 as planned. After an unprecedented wave of condemnations from the Arab and Muslim worlds, the group seemed set to release the men but there had been no news for about a week until Tuesday. On Tuesday, the group purportedly called France an "enemy of Muslims" and listed a number of "crimes" carried out by Paris against several Muslim countries in a statement published on a website. "France has distinguished itself for its war against Islam and Muslims and has committed butchery against the nation," said the statement. The statement noted that "true dhimmi-tax paying professionals, be they journalists, doctors or others, who grovel appropriately before us and do not carry out any activity of sabotage ... are not the target of the Islamic Army." "We respect those who are on a genuine humanitarian mission ... and are not pursuing missionary or intelligence objectives," it added.| "Don't start waving dictionaries at us. We will define all those terms for you." |
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