French Cabinet examines new law to combat "terrorist tourism"

The French Cabinet on Wednesday examined a new draft law that would tighten up legislation on terrorism and would allow French courts to indict nationals leaving this country to train or participate in terrorist actions abroad, Cabinet sources said.  The draft text, which is soon to be presented to Parliament, was presented by Interior Minister Manual Valls and is a direct result of terrorist offences committed in Toulouse earlier this year by "self-appointed Jihadist," Mohammed Merah.  The 24-year-old Frenchman of Algerian extract murdered three French soldiers and four Jews, three of them young children, on a killing spree that spanned several weeks in the Toulouse region. He was shot dead by police on March 22, but many questions have been raised about police methods and the failure to detect and detain Merah, even though he had been earlier placed under surveillance for extremist activity and for having travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he received training and was captured and deported by US troops.  Authorities here argued that there was no legal mechanism to prosecute or detain Merah, who already had served two years in jail for other unrelated offences.  Until today, it is not a crime in France to travel abroad to take part in terrorist offences but the new law will change this.  "Today it is indispensable to detect the paths of radicalisation and cross-over of individuals or groups to terrorist violence," the draft law said.  The aim is to track networks for sending people to "indoctrination camps" that exist in a number of countries where there are training facilities. The new approach would also heighten detection methods for spreading radicalism or calls to "Jihad" on the internet.  More importantly, after the Merah killings, a legal mechanism to track and monitor people who have been trained abroad or have taken part in terrorist operations in different areas is to be put in place and will be used when these individuals return to France.  The new law will also extend "preventative access" of police and other authorities to allow them to monitor and intercept radical internet sites and other electronic communications such as e-mail. Legal authorisation for these operations expires in December but is to be extended for another three years under the new law, when it is passed by Parliament.  The Interior Minister said that he would like to see authorisation to spy on e-mail and internet use of radical or terrorist sites to be made a permanent fixture in law.  Also, France intends to adopt via the new legislation articles of law that would allow for "terrorism tourism" to be prosecuted when individuals travelling to other countries return here.  "This modification will allow the more effective pursuit of people who have taken part in terrorist training camps abroad even though they have not committed reprehensible acts on French soil," the draft law points out.  France is on "very high alert" for terrorist attacks here because of its involvement in the war in Afghanistan and also its tough policy against radical Islamic terrorists in the Maghreb. The Al-Qaeda for an Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, which is very active in the Sahel and has take over a large part of Mali, has several times warned France against attacks.  AQIM is currently holding six French hostages and is threatening to kill them if France backs an international operation to oust the group from Mali.