Story highlights Lassana Bathily will become a French citizen next week, government says

The Muslim hid customers of a Paris kosher market in a walk-in freezer

His actions spurred adoring headlines in France, petitions to have him honored

(CNN) Lassana Bathily risked his own life to help save others, a Muslim who protected Jews in the face of an armed terrorist.

Now the French government is helping out Bathily -- by making him a citizen.

The Malian native's citizenship application, which he filed in July, will be expedited, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Thursday. Cazeneuve will conduct Bathily's citizenship ceremony himself Tuesday.

This event will add to what has been an emotional few weeks for Bathily, starting with his heroic actions Friday, after a gunman burst in while he was working at the kosher Hyper Cacher grocery store near Paris' Porte de Vincennes.

The man took several people hostage but not the 15 whom Bathily led downstairs into a walk-in freezer. Bathily, who describes himself as a "practicing Muslim," told CNN affiliate BFMTV he switched off the freezer, turned off the lights and told everyone to stay calm.

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