A Paris court convicted Pakistani national Zaheer Mahmood of attempted murder and terrorism for an Islamist-motivated attack in September 2020 that resulted in two people being injured.

A Paris court sentenced a 29-year-old Pakistani man to 30 years in prison on Thursday for a knife attack outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in 2020. Zaheer Mahmood was found guilty of attempted murder and terrorism in connection with the Islamist-motivated assault in September 2020, which resulted in two people being injured.

Mahmood believed he was targeting employees of Charlie Hebdo, unaware that the satirical magazine had moved its offices after the 2015 attack, in which Islamist militants killed 12 of the magazine's staff, including some of France's most well-known cartoonists. The 2020 attack occurred five years after the Al-Qaeda-linked assault on Charlie Hebdo's Paris headquarters.

The 2015 attack was in retaliation for the magazine's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. This event ignited a global debate surrounding freedom of speech and religious tolerance, leading the magazine to relocate. In response to the 2015 massacre's trial, Charlie Hebdo republished its controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on September 2, 2020.

In the 2020 incident, Mahmood used a butcher's cleaver to wound two employees of the Premieres Lignes news agency, mistakenly believing they were Charlie Hebdo staff. Mahmood, who entered France illegally in 2019, was allegedly radicalized by an extremist preacher who encouraged his followers to "avenge the Prophet."

Mahmood’s lawyer stated that his actions stemmed from a sense of alienation in France after leaving Pakistan. "In his head, he had never left Pakistan," said Alberic de Gayardon, Mahmood’s defense attorney. "He does not speak French, lives with Pakistanis, and works for Pakistanis."

In addition to Mahmood's sentence, five other Pakistani men, including some who were minors at the time, were also tried for assisting in the attack. Their sentences ranged from 3 to 12 years.