Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 - France

France dismantled terror networks on its territory and successfully convicted or extradited a number of high profile terrorists and their supporters. French authorities detained people with connections to a number of different terrorist groups, including Islamic terrorists, Corsican nationalists, Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) members, 17 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and 16 Kurds with links to the Kongra-Gel/Kurdistan Worker's Party (KGK/PKK). The French government undertook several counterterrorism operations during the year against Islamic terrorism targets in coordination with other countries including the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal. France's efforts to avoid homegrown radicalization and extremism increased in 2007, and included administrative and judicial action against people who incite violence or hatred, and social and economic initiatives to prevent the susceptibility of at-risk populations. Increasing Islamic radicalization in the prison system continued to worry French officials.

Several public announcements by al-Qa'ida (AQ) reiterated that France and French interests remain key targets of al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). In December, French police arrested a group of eight people in Paris suspected of providing material support to AQIM. In September, AQIM injured two Frenchmen in an attack in Algeria, and in December, it killed four French tourists in Mauritania. In February, AQ members were also suspected of killing four French nationals in Saudi Arabia.

In February, counterterrorism police detained 16 Kurds suspected of links to the KGK/PKK; all were charged with various crimes including extortion, money laundering, and terrorism financing; and were suspected of providing financial support to the KGK/PKK to fund terrorist attacks in Turkey. Riza Altun, who has been wanted in Turkey for many years on terrorism charges, was among those arrested. After being released on bail, he fled France for Austria and was allowed to depart Austria for northern Iraq. Altun is still wanted in France and is being prosecuted in absentia.

In April, authorities arrested 17 people suspected of extorting funds from the Tamil community in France, and illegally transferring the money to Sri Lanka for use by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Unofficial reports noted that the LTTE raises as much as six million euros per year in France.

The French government increased its efforts to obtain the release of French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt (detained since 2002), and other hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Both President Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Kouchner engaged Colombian President Uribe and Venezuelan President Chavez to work towards Betancourt's release. In November, Colombian authorities seized FARC materials that provided proof of life of Betancourt for the first time since 2003.

France's most recent counterterrorism legislation was adopted January 23, 2006. Preliminary detention for terrorism suspects in France is six days. The state may thereafter place suspects in pre-trial detention for up to four years when the evidence is compelling or when the suspect presents an imminent threat. In conjunction with local government, the national government increased video surveillance in major cities. French law also allowed for freezing of assets, video and telephone surveillance, monitoring of public transport records, and broad powers of official access to connection data held by Internet cafes and to various personal data records. The sentence for a convicted terrorist is up to 30 years for leading or organizing an attack, and from ten to twenty years for assisting a terrorist organization or operation. French nationality may be revoked, leading to eventual expulsion from French territory if the terrorist became a citizen through naturalization within the preceding 15 years.

France continued its active engagement with the UN Security Council (UNSC) Counterterrorism Committee (CTC), the G8's Counterterrorism Action Group (CTAG), the UNSCR 1267 Sanctions Committee (for the Taliban and AQ), and the European Council's Antiterrorism Strategy action plan. France is an original member of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and continued to participate actively. France remained a member and contributor to both the Proliferation and Container Security Initiatives.

In March, French Justice Minister Pascal Clement inaugurated an international justice network on terrorism. The network brought together justice officials from nine different countries² whose legal systems have centralized terrorism-related cases. The concept was to create a dialogue among nations' experts about how to use the judicial system to counter terrorism.

On the military front, France contributed three additional Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) to Afghanistan and transferred six Mirage fighter jets to Kandahar. France continued its participation in Coalition Task Force (CTF) 150, a multinational naval force that patrolled the Red Sea and Gulf of Yemen to interdict the movement of suspected terrorists between Afghanistan, the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. It has twice commanded the Task Force. France maintained its overall contributions to both the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and Operational Iraqi Freedom (OIF), with approximately 1,200 and 750 troops, respectively.

Following the assassinations of two Spanish police in southern France in December, French and Spanish officials announced the creation of permanent joint police units to combat Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA). The assassinations marked the first killings by ETA in France since 1976. A number of arrests of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) suspects were made throughout the year, several of whom were extradited to Spain. Police also arrested 13 people with ties to ETA in September in connection with the June 2006 attack against the Hotel Ostape in the French Basque region.

France continued to develop competencies and capabilities of TRACFIN, the Ministry of Finance's terrorism financing coordination and investigation unit. Within the European Union, France played an active role in the Clearinghouse, the EU process for designation of terrorist organizations. France did not designate HAMAS-affiliated charities, such as the French based Comite de Bienfaisance et Secours aux Palestiniens (Committee for the Well-Being and Assistance to Palestinians), arguing that this institution had no proven links to terrorism. France also opposed EU designation of Lebanese Hizballah as a terrorist organization, although it supported Hizballah's eventual disarmament, maintaining that disarmament would result in Hizballah's gradual integration into Lebanese politics.

Attacks on the French island of Corsica decreased in 2007, totaling 180. The government had a widespread police presence in the region and arrested dozens of people throughout the year in connection with various attacks. No deaths were reported and only a handful of minor injuries resulted from the attacks. The December conviction of Corsican extremist Yvan Colonna (convicted of the 1998 assassination of the highest ranking national government representative in Corsica), however fueled a rise in attacks at the end of 2007.

Key judicial proceedings involving Islamic terrorism related crimes included:

• The French government continued its policy of expelling non-French citizens engaged in terrorist activities or speech that promoted hate or incited violence. Among those ordered expelled from France were as many as 18 foreign imams who preached values determined to incite hate or violence.
• In April, France expelled Rachid Benmessahel to Algeria, and permanently banned him from entering France. Benmessahel was a French citizen who was sentenced in March 2005 on terrorism-related charges. His nationality was revoked in accordance with French law.
• In May police arrested Kamel Bouchentouf, a French citizen collaborating via the Internet with AQIM. Bouchentouf confessed to planning attacks against multiple targets including the American Embassy in Luxembourg.
• On December 19, five of six French former Guantanamo detainees expelled to France in 2004 and 2005 were convicted on terrorism related charges and sentenced to several years in prison. The judge ordered the majority of their sentences suspended, however, reducing jail time to time already served based on their incarceration in France upon return from Guantanamo. One detainee, Achhab Kanouni, was acquitted of all charges.
• On June 19, Djamel Beghal, convicted in 2003 for planning a terrorist attack against the U.S. Embassy in Paris, was ordered by an Expulsion Commission to be expelled from France upon the completion of his prison term. Beghal was sentenced to ten years prison in 2003, but is eligible for "parole" as early as mid-2008. Beghal had his French nationality revoked by French courts in 2005. He is an Algerian national and, under the current order, would be sent back to Algeria once released.
• On June 20, eight members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) were convicted in France for providing material support to a terrorist organization in connection with the May 16, 2003 terrorist bombings in Casablanca. Mustapha Baouchi, sentenced to ten years, was considered the leader of the French cell and the key link to the group.
• In March, French citizen Willie Brigitte was sentenced to nine years in prison for planning a 2003 terrorist attack against a nuclear plant in Australia and for ties to Islamic radicals. Brigitte was held in pre-trial detention in Paris since his expulsion from Australia in 2003.

2 The nine member countries are: France, U.S., UK, Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, Belgium, and Spain.