The owner of a Pakistani restaurant in High Wycombe said some of those murdered in the Charlie Hebdo attacks “were not innocent” during an interview with a national radio programme.

Reporter, Sima Kotecha, visited the town centre to speak to British Muslims about the attacks in Paris, which left 12 dead at the satirical magazine’s offices and further scenes of violence on Friday.

The Today show, titled “British Muslims react to Charlie Hebdo attack”, aired on Friday.

In the programme, the restaurant owner said: “It is painful that people have to die in this way.”

He added: “I love my prophet more than my mum, more than my dad, more than my children and if the people make his cartoons or something else they’re hurting my heart.”

When the BBC reporter retorted that “we live in a democracy”, he replied: “No no you can insult the peoples, you can insult me, you can insult anybody else but not the god, not the prophet Muhammad; we are not allowing that.

“If they are doing that, that will happen again and again.”

Ms Kotecha said he was the only person to go on the record with the view that those who were killed were not “blameless”.

He said: “Why the people they are hating our faith, our prophet?”

He added: “It [the Paris attack] is wrong. But they have to stop. The people who are insulting Islam. Islam is very, very peaceful.”

The restaurant owner said he “understand(s)” why some of the victims were killed, adding: “Some of them were not innocent.”

In particular he identifies Charlie Hebdo’s editor who “had no right to make cartoons of the prophet Muhammad”.

Another man Ms Kotecha spoke with said a democracy “doesn’t mean you can go and insult anybody”.

In response to the question “so are you justifying this mass murder?” he said: “Of course not but these people what are they achieving to put the cartoon and put those comments... What is the point?”

Councillor Maz Hussain said: “We haven’t got a right to take someone’s life. We [cannot] judge who’s right or wrong.”

The interview aired the same day that the mayor of High Wycombe released a statement condemning the attacks, while adding that “insulting a person’s fundamental beliefs was likely to lead to unrest”.

Comments featured in this article were taken from a BBC interview where the name of the restaurant was not made available.