Main suspect
The main suspect was identified as Zaheer Hassan Mehmood,[7] a 25-year-old Pakistani man,[8] who is charged with "attempted murder in association with a terrorist enterprise."[9][10] The suspect acknowledged having carried out the attack for religious reasons.[11] He claimed to be 18 in order to be eligible for social welfare benefits.[8]
Before the attack, he stated in a video that he was seeking vengeance against Charlie Hebdo for publishing caricatures of Islam's prophet Muhammad.[12]
The suspect left his village in Punjab province in Pakistan in early 2018 and came to Europe, following his brothers and other young men from the village. According to Associated Press, villagers considered the suspect a hero for carrying out the Paris attack. The suspect's father championed his son's actions, but was warned by Pakistani police against speaking publicly.[12]
In France, the suspect moved to Pantin, a working-class district with many immigrants from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Pakistan. He shared an apartment with several other Pakistanis above a Hookah bar.[12]
During the course of the investigation, it was found that Mahmood had carried out the attack not knowing that Charlie Hebdo had moved to a secret location following the 2015 attack. He was also found to have been influenced by radical Pakistani Islamic preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi. On 24 January 2025, Mahmood was convicted of attempted murder and terrorist conspiracy and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment and expulsion from France upon his release. Mahmood apologised to the victims.[5]
Accomplices
In December 2020, four Pakistanis aged 17 to 21 were found to have been in contact with the assailant by authorities and were taken into custody. Two were apprehended in the Gironde, a third in Caen and the fourth in the Paris region. According to authorities, they had "spread their ideology and one of them had expressed his hatred against France before the attack". The investigation had also found numerous messages published on the TikTok social media network where the suspects expressed their hatred towards Muhammad caricatures and "glorified" the assault by their compatriot.[13]
On the same day as Mahmood's conviction, five of his accomplices were sentenced to between three and 12 years' imprisonment on terrorist conspiracy charges for supporting Mahmood.[5]
