PHOTO: TWITTER
Bathily, who has lived in France since 2006, had applied in July last year for French nationality, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, praising his "bravery", said in a statement he would be given it at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Twenty-four-old Bathily, a Muslim shop assistant originally from Mali risked his own life to lead people to safety during the Paris attacks.
The Change.org petition calls on President Francois Hollande to grant Bathily French nationality and the Legion d'honneur for saving 15 lives during the siege last week.
Three days of terror gripped France as armed gunmen stormed satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a day later a gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, took people hostage at a kosher grocery store.
Bathily, a Muslim man originally from Mali in west Africa, reportedly led terrified customers to safety in a switched-off storeroom freezer. He later escaped through a fire escape to talk to police.
According to The Guardian, after he escaped the supermarket, Bathily told French TV, "When they ran down, I opened the door (from the freezer).
"There are several people who came to me. I turned off the light, I turned off the freezer. When I turned off the cold, I put them (hostages) in, I closed the door, I told them to stay calm."
Police originally thought Bathily was a conspirator when he managed to escape through a goods lift. “They told me, ‘get down on the ground, hands over your head’. They cuffed me and held me for an hour and a half as if I was with them,” he added. Once freed he was able to give them details of the layout of the store and where people were hiding.
As of Thursday afternoon the petition was signed by more than 278,863 people and 21,137 more signatures were needed.
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