Twitter deletes Mahathir Mohamad's tweet saying Muslims have 'a right' to 'massacre millions of French'

Microblogging website Twitter on Thursday deleted a tweet from former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which had said that “Muslims had the right to be angry and kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past”.

The Malaysian PM was referencing the assertion that if all Muslims can be blamed for the actions of a few; all French should also be blamed for the massacres their people have perpetrated in the past.

According to Al Jazeera, Twitter had initially flagged Mahathir’s tweet about killing “millions of French people” as “glorifying violence” and later removed it from the thread.

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The tweet had come after a deadly attack in Nice. Three people were killed at a church in the southern French city in what authorities were treating as the latest extremist assault to rock the country.

Shortly afterwards, Mahathir launched an extraordinary outburst in a series of tweets. Mahathir, however, never made a direct reference to the attack in Nice.

Nonetheless, the tweets sparked widespread anger and prompted Twitter to delete his post. 

Twitter told AFP that the tweet was deleted because the comments "violated policy regarding glorification of violence."

Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tweets

Referring to the beheading of a French teacher who had shown blasphemous cartoons, Mahathir said he did not approve of the murder but freedom of expression does not include "insulting other people".

"Irrespective of the religion professed, angry people kill," said the outspoken 95-year-old Malaysian leader.

"The French in the course of their history have killed millions of people. Many were Muslims. Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past."

But he added that "by and large the Muslims have not applied the 'eye for an eye' law. Muslims don't. The French shouldn't."

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Mahathir, who served as Malaysian premier twice for a total of 24 years, also said French President Emmanuel Macron was "not showing that he is civilised", and added that he was "very primitive".

"The French should teach their people to respect other people´s feelings. Since you have blamed all Muslims and the Muslims' religion for what was done by one angry person, the Muslims have a right to punish the French."