France accelerates nationality deprivation for terrorism
France's Ministry of Interior now systematically uses deprivation decrees for individuals convicted of terrorist acts.
Ministry of Interior and counter-terrorism procedures
According to Le Figaro, the French Ministry of Interior is multiplying nationality deprivation procedures against persons convicted of terrorism. This practice, long limited in scope, has developed considerably in recent years.
One example illustrates this trend. In October 2021, S.C., a Franco-Tunisian national, was sentenced to seven years in prison for participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a terrorist act. The man had attempted twice to join Syria in 2015, during the wave of Islamist attacks that struck France. He had also illegally acquired weapons and handed over a large sum of money to a third party to enable him to travel to Syria. He was also among the fighters in a Franco-Swiss network facilitating the movement of fighters to the Syrian-Iraqi zone for the benefit of the Islamic State.
Beyond imprisonment, the court pronounced against S.C. a period of security lasting two-thirds of the sentence, three years of judicial supervision and registration in the automated database of perpetrators of terrorist offences. It was within this framework that the nationality deprivation procedure was initiated, illustrating a hardening of administrative measures accompanying criminal sanctions.
This approach reflects an evolution of French domestic security policies in the face of terrorist threats documented since the mid-2010s.
Source: Le Figaro