The heroic Muslim who saved up to 15 Jewish hostages from an Islamist gunman during the Paris terror attacks is to be rewarded with French nationality.
Lassana Bathily, 24, emerged as one of the heroes of the attacks when he ushered shoppers to safety during the siege last week.
The shop attendant's quick thinking allowed him to stow people away and escape to seek help after gunman Amedy Coulibaly had already killed four hostages.
Despite initially being suspected of being an accomplice, he was able to tell police what was happening inside the store and helped save the lives of the remaining hostages.
"I helped Jews. We're all brothers," Bathily told BFM TV. It's not a question of Jews, Christians or Muslims, we're all in the same boat," he said.
A petition for him to be given French citizenship gained 200,000 signatures.
The French Interior Ministry said in a statement: "Following the acts of bravery by Mr Bathily during the hostage taking in the Hyper Casher market on Jan. 9, the Interior Ministry has fast-tracked (his) request for citizenship."
An official ceremony will be held on January 20.
Last week, 17 people were killed in three days of violence that began with an attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and ended with dual sieges at a print works outside Paris and the kosher supermarket.
