French Parliament Approves New Extremist Travel Ban

Local Editor

France's parliament on Tuesday approved a new anti-terror bill that would confiscate passports, which aims at preventing potential extremists from traveling to Iraq, Syria or elsewhere.

According to the text, the travel ban on French nationals could be imposed "where there are serious reasons to believe that someone is planning to travel abroad to take part in terrorist activities, war crimes or crimes against humanity or in a theater of operations of terrorist groups and in conditions likely to jeopardize public security upon their return to French territory."

Under the scheme the travel ban may be imposed for six months, renewable for up to two years.
Moreover, someone placed under the order would have their passport and French identity card confiscated.

Violation of the new French rules would be punishable by three years in prison and a hefty fine.

Sebastien Pietrasanta, a deputy with the ruling Socialists, who introduced the bill, said that, "Six months is a reasonable period because this is a serious measure." He was responding to an amendment put forward by the conservative opposition UMP party for an initial one-year travel ban.

Additionally, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told parliament that anyone targeted by the new laws would have the right to legal redress, though the administration would not be able to reveal any classified information in relation to the case.

According to Cazeneuve, around 930 French citizens have been travelling to and from Iraq and Syria recently, a 74 percent increase in eight months. Of those 36 were killed while overseas.

Cazeneuve added that that in recent months, some 70 departures from France, deemed suspect, could have been prevented had this legislation been in place.

The draft law, which also targets messages posted on the Internet, is being rushed through the French parliament and is set to go to a single-round formal vote on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, six people were detained in France on suspicion of recruiting candidates for extremism, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
The suspects were held in the suburbs of the eastern city of Lyon as part of an "anti-terrorism" probe launched in July.

According to a police source, a brother and a sister are among those detained since Tuesday, and one of the suspects is linked to Forsane Alizza [Knights of Pride], an extremist group that had called for France to become a so-called "caliphate" and was banned in 2012.

The detentions come amid concerns in France about the number of citizens travelling to Iraq and Syria to wage fights there and then return to their home countries to carry out smiliar actions.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team




Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team