The Safé Bourada's case illustrates how France is dealing with terrorists within its borders.
By Anthony Bruno
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| Symbol of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) |
In September 2005, French authorities arrested 9 members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), an Algerian terrorist organization with links to Al Qaeda. This cell had made plans to attack Charles De Gaulle Airport, the Paris Metro, and the headquarters of the DST (Directorate of Territorial Surveillance), France's FBI. French authorities were able to stop this cell because they had kept tabs on a known terrorist, Safé Bourada, from the time he had been released from prison two years earlier, monitoring his movements and eavesdropping on his communications.
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| Bombing of the St. Michel Metro station in Paris in 1995 |
Bourada had been convicted of aiding the Algerian extremists who had bombed the St. Michel Metro station in Paris in 1995. Nine people had died and over 200 had been wounded in that incident. While Bourada was serving his time, authorities received reliable information that he was recruiting new members to his radical Islamic cause in prison. For years, old-school terrorists have been preaching to other inmates and making converts out of petty criminals. The French authorities also learned that the GSPC had been in contact with Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. By keeping a close watch on Bourada after his release and following the intricate trails of those whom he and his associates contacted, the police were able to make a clean sweep, apprehending the major players of this cell. Under new anti-terrorism laws enacted in the years after September 11, 2001, Bourada is now facing a 20-year sentence instead of the five he spent in prison for his previous offense.
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| Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi |
Safé Bourada's case illustrates how France is dealing with terrorists within its borders. France's counterterrorism laws are generally tougher than those of other Western nations. Police who are investigating suspected terrorist activities are allowed to stop and search vehicles without a court order. Confidential police records are readily available to terrorist investigators. Unoccupied property can be searched with a warrant, but the owner does not have to be notified. Electronic communications and transactions can now be monitored more easily than under the former laws.
Interestingly, public protest against alleged violations of civil freedoms has been light, and the average French citizen is not obsessed with the threat of terrorism. Though the French are aware and concerned about radical Islamic activities around the world, it is not what they talk about everyday.
"Terrorist threats are not part of France's daily consciousness," says Professor Francois Thuillier of Reid Hall University in Paris. "For two days after the train bombings in Madrid in 2004, people talked about it, but we did not dwell on it."
France suffered a wave of terrorist attacks from several radical Islamic groups in the 1990s, but unlike the September 11 attacks in the United States, the terrorist cells that threatened France then were homegrown. That is still the case today. Muslims make up about 10 percent of France's population. Most of them are of Algerian, Moroccan, or Tunisian ancestry, and many were born in France. There are numerous Muslim communities in France, including Paris's crowded 19th Arrondissement, reputed to be havens for radical groups.
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| Dalil Boubakeur, leader of the Mosque of Paris |
Obviously most Muslims in France are not fanatics, and the French government would like to keep Muslim youths from becoming radicalized, so it has taken measures to promote moderate Muslim leaders, such as Dalil Boubakeur, leader of the Mosque of Paris and president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. Fundamentalist Muslims have been critical of Boubakeur and suspicious of his alliance with the government, but efforts to integrate Muslim citizens further into French society seem to be working. Prejudice against Muslims in France has been a longtime problem, but attitudes are improving. According to a Pew Research Center study published in 2005, 64 percent of the French population held a positive view of Muslims.
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