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France gets anti-terrorism laws
22/12/2005 17:05 - (SA)
Paris - The French parliament on Thursday adopted a tough new anti-terrorist law inspired by British measures used to identify the bombers who carried out the July bomb attacks in London.
MPs voted 202 to 122 in favour of the law, which will increase video surveillance of railways stations, airports and other public areas, permit official snooping on internet and mobile telephone records, and lengthen the period of detention for terrorist suspects.
Civil rights groups and left-wing opposition parties have expressed concern over the law, which they fear gives authorities too much power to invade citizens' privacy and encourages confusion between immigration and terrorism.
The opposition Socialist Party, which abstained in the vote, said it would challenge the law in the Constitutional Council, the court which determines whether legislation abides by France's 1958 constitution.
Preventing a catastrophe
The law was championed by interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a hard-line conservative politician with hopes of succeeding President Jacques Chirac in 2007 elections.
He has said it was drawn up partly with Britain's experience during and after the July attacks in mind and aims to improve France's legislative arsenal to prevent "a catastrophe".
British investigators' used video footage to identify the alleged suicide bombers who killed themselves and 52 people on three London underground trains and a bus on July 7. It was also used to track down another group that failed in an alleged attempt to create similar mayhem on July 21.
The law paves the way for increased use of surveillance cameras in public spaces such as train stations, churches and mosques, shops, factories or nuclear plants.
Greater authority
Mobile phone operators and Internet access firms - particularly internet cafes - will be required to keep records of client connections for one year under its provisions.
Officials will have greater authority to conduct identity checks on cross-border trains and to automatically monitor vehicles, and police will have wider access to previously confidential customer information from rail, maritime and air transport companies.
Local authorities will have the right to ban certain individuals from entering sporting stadiums.
Terrorist suspects can also be kept in custody for a maximum of six days without being put under formal, criminal investigation. The previous duration was four days.
Prison terms for people convicted of terrorist acts will also be doubled to 20 years and those convicted of associating with terrorists will face up to 30 years behind bars, up from the previous 20 years.
The law extends existing anti-terrorism legislation in France that was already considered among the toughest in the 25-nation European Union, particularly with its catch-all offence of "criminal association in relation with a terrorist enterprise".
- AFP
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