France high court rules terror suspects have right to lawyer

[JURIST] The French Court of Cassation [official website, in French] ruled [judgment text, in French; press release, in French] Tuesday that all persons in custody of French law enforcement, including terrorism suspects, are entitled to consult with lawyers from the outset of criminal proceedings. Sitting en banc, the court ruled that France’s current rules regarding [...]

France sends soldiers to Niger to hunt for hostages

The BBC reports that France has sent dozens of soldiers to Niger’s capital Niamey to hunt for seven hostages kidnapped by suspected Islamist militants. The troops are using reconnaissance planes to search the Sahara Desert for the captives who were seized last week from their homes at Arlit. The hostages — including five French citizens [...]

France “declares war” against al-Qaida

France has declared war on al-Qaida, and matched its fighting words with a first attack on a base camp of the terror network’s North African branch, after the terror network killed a French aid worker it took hostage in April. The declaration and attack marked a shift in strategy for France, usually discrete about its [...]

France joined Mauritania strike on Al Qaeda

France said Friday it had given technical and logistical support to a Mauritanian military operation against al Qaeda’s North African wing after receiving no sign that a French citizen held by the group was still alive. “The terrorist group targeted by the Mauritanian army is the one that executed a British hostage a year ago [...]

HRW: France, Germany and UK should stop using foreign intelligence obtained under torture in the fight against terrorism

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom use foreign intelligence obtained under torture in the fight against terrorism, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “No Questions Asked: Intelligence Cooperation with Countries that Torture,” analyzes the ongoing cooperation by the governments of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom with foreign intelligence services [...]

Washington Post: “Europe’s antiterrorism agencies favor human intelligence over technology”

The Washington Post has an article on intelligence agencies last week titled: “Europe’s antiterrorism agencies favor human intelligence over technology”. The article seems to imply that the U.S. can learn quite some things from its European counterparts, especially from the French Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DCRI), France’s main antiterrorism force. 1. European Intelligence vs [...]

France: 14 Held in Plot to Free Transit Bomber

The French police on Tuesday arrested 14 men suspected of plotting a prison break to free an Islamist militant who took part in the Paris transit bombings in 1995. The unidentified men are currently being interrogated  in garde a vue detention by SDAT police forces under the direction of judges Thierry Fragnoli et Edmond Brunaud. [...]

Hate speech decision on Le Pen

Professor Dirk Voorhoof (Ghent University) has a post on ECHR Blog commenting last weeks’s ECtHR’s decision in the case of Le Pen v. France, the president of the French “National Front” party. Quote: The ECtHR is of the opinion that the French authorities’ interference with Mr Le Pen’s freedom of expression, in the form of [...]

European Parliament VP calls for continent-wide burqa ban

[JURIST] European Parliament Vice President Silvana Koch-Mehrin expressed her support for a continent-wide ban on the Islamic burqa in an editorial published Saturday in the German daily Bild. Koch-Mehrin, a member of the Free Democratic Party representing Germany, described the burqa as a “mobile prison” which “robs [women] of their face and personality.” Koch-Mehrin also [...]

Belgium lower house approves burqa ban

[JURIST] The Belgian House of Representatives on Thursday voted 136-0 to approve a bill that would ban the Islamic burqa and other full face veils in public. The proposed legislation applies to areas “accessible to the public” or areas meant for “public use or to provide public services.” Violators could face a penalty of up [...]