France retools anti-extremism efforts

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Denmark arrests 2 for planning to join IS in Syria

LENS, France, (Agencies): France’s attempts to counter the radicalization of its young people are in turmoil, with a group home intended to turn them away from Islamic extremism empty, the head of a highly publicized nonprofi t convicted of misuse of public funds, and plans to segregate prison inmates suspected of harboring jihadi ideas abandoned.

The results are both disappointing and unsurprising, according to a French senator who co-wrote a recent report highly critical of an effort she says was devised in haste and has been a waste of money. “We spread money around because we didn’t have time and we had to communicate something, we had to show something,” said Sen. Esther Benbassa, whose report last month concluded that the country’s de-radicalization efforts so far were largely ineffective.

“The time that this takes to work is long, very long.” The backtracking takes on added signifi cance as recent attacks, including last week’s rampage in London and the previous week’s assault on soldiers at Paris’ Orly airport, were carried out by ex-convicts who may have been radicalized behind bars. France is not the only country reconsidering how it responds to radicalization. Britain’s contentious Prevent program, which seeks to identify residents at risk of being radicalized, has come under criticism by rights groups and an expert for the United Nations who said it stifles free speech.

France’s experiments with preventing radicalization were conceived during a literal state of emergency following the extremist attacks on the staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket in January 2015 and the Paris bombings and shootings that left 130 dead 10 months later. The ad hoc attempts focused on the prison system, a key incubator for many would-be jihadis, and programs that tried to target those already on the path to extremism. They did not go as hoped.

Program
Sonia Imloul, the former head of a de-radicalization program that had support of the French Interior Ministry, was convicted of misuse of funds this month after trial testimony showed she had government funds for the organization deposited directly into her account. Imloul received a four-month suspended prison sentence, although her lawyer says the 60,000 euros ($65,000) she received from the government was a drop in the bucket for what the program needed.

The program operated out of an apartment and used university students instead of trained professionals to counsel families of young people who had left for Syria, according to the trial testimony. Meanwhile, in February, the last occupant of a residential program in the Loire Valley wine country that was meant to rehabilitate extremists was convicted of advocating terrorism.

Residents of the area, who were promised before the group home opened in September that none of the occupants posed a danger, were infuriated to learn that one young man was linked to the same jihadi network as one of the suicide bombers who attacked the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on Nov 13, 2015. With a capacity of 25, the manor house never had more than nine voluntary participants at any given time since it launched in September. It’s now empty and the government is focusing its resources on prevention, hoping that will prove more effective — or at least not counter-productive. In the northern city of Lens, 600 local high school students recently were bused to the Colisee theater to watch a live performance of “Djihad,” a play about three young Muslims who come to regret their decision to go to Syria but who also feel rejected by Europe.

The play, which uses comedy to reach an audience often impervious to preaching adults, opened days before the January 2015 attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Hyper Cacher grocery store. It has been running continuously ever since. Its current home theater is in Paris, across the street from La Bonne Biere bar, which was attacked in November 2015.

Attackers
Playwright Ismail Saidi is a native of the Molenbeek neighborhood in Brussels that was home to many of the attackers who struck Paris that night, including the ringleader of the Islamic State cell and the only attacker known to have survived, now awaiting trial in France. Meanwhile, Danish prosecutors say two men have been arrested suspected of having violated Denmark’s terror laws for planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group. In a statement, the prosecution offi ce for suburban Copenhagen says the two are aged 18 and 19. They were not identifi ed. The men will face a pre-trial custody hearing later Wednesday. No further details were immediately available. Defense lawyer Michael Juul Eriksen said he had been asked to represent one of the two but had no details about the case.

In another development, German police have arrested a suspected Afghan Taleban commander believed to have taken part in an attack on a military convoy about a decade ago in which at least 16 US and Afghan soldiers were killed. The federal prosecutor’s offi ce said on Tuesday that the 30- year old Afghan citizen, identifi ed only as Abdullah P., was arrested in the southern state of Bavaria on March 23 and was being detained during the continuing investigation. The suspect is believed to have joined the Taleban insurgency in 2002 and entered a unit commanded by his father, the statement said. In 2004, he took over the unit and received weapons including an artillery piece, a rocket and several guns. He was involved in several attacks on foreign and Afghan soldiers, including one in which a convoy of seven or eight military vehicles was attacked with at least two bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the prosecutors. “In this attack, at least 16 American and Afghan soldiers were killed,” said the statement. A spokeswoman said the attack was in Kunar province bordering Pakistan but it was unclear in which year it took place. He is also suspected of trying to kill soldiers in another attack in which it was not clear whether the detonated bombs hit their targets, the statement said.

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