France unveils plan to prevent radicalisation

Cazeneuve: presented a plan aimed at dissuading, preventing and punishing the radicalisation of French youths.

DPA/Paris

Hoping to thwart would-be jihadists from following the hundreds of French nationals who have travelled to Syria to fight alongside fundamentalist groups, the French government unveiled yesterday a raft of measures to create an "anti-jihadist" plan.

The plan of action presented by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve aims to "dissuade, prevent and punish" the radicalisation of troubled French youths.

The government estimates that around 300 French nationals or residents are currently enlisted with jihadist groups in Syria, with a further 130 en route to the country and another 130 having already returned.

Twenty-five French people have died in the conflict.

The movement, which has swept along teens as young as 14 – some of whom are recent converts to Islam – has accelerated in recent months, according to the interior ministry.

Didier Francois, one of the four French journalists who were released from captivity in Syria at the weekend after being held for 10 months by a jihadist group, said some of his captors spoke French.

France is particularly fearful of the threat such people pose to national security upon their return.

The "anti-jihadist" plan has four aims:

* Thwart militants from travelling to and from Syria.

Several minors bound for Syria, via Turkey, have slipped through French airports unperturbed. The government will put in place a system, whereby parents who fear their underage children are vulnerable to recruitment for jihad, can ask authorities to ban them from leaving the country.

Adults, too, could be banned from travel abroad. Cazeneuve told France Info radio that people suspected of threatening national security could have their passport confiscated.

As for fighters returning from Syria, while they cannot be banned from re-entering France, they can be prosecuted for criminal conspiracy in a terrorist enterprise.

* Cracking down on recruitment by jihadist networks.

The intelligence services will step up surveillance of extremist websites and forums that use propaganda videos to recruit people for jihad.

France and its European neighbours will also lobby Internet operators to block the websites and foreigners linked to radical groups will be deported.

* Increase co-operation with other European countries affected by the problem.

On April 30, the interior ministers of France, Britain, Germany and Belgium will meet in London to share experiences and discuss co-ordinated action.

The French government noted that terrorist groups often use the humanitarian tragedy in Syria for recruitment purposes and called for European aid efforts in the country to be given increased visibility.

* Clamp down on "hate preachers".

France aims to reach people toying with radical Islam before they are recruited by terrorist groups by setting up a call centre to advise families on how to identify and deal with early warning signs.

Local authorities will be tasked with developing reinsertion programmes, focusing particularly on prisons, which are fertile recruiting grounds for extremists.