FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2015
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CEP Releases Updated Resources on AQAP Attacks in Paris, Extremism and Counter-Extremism in France
(New York, NY) – The January 7, 2015 shooting at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was the deadliest terrorist attack in France in more than 50 years. In the wake of those murders and the killing of a policeman and hostages at a kosher supermarket, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) today released updated resources dissecting those incidents and other recent extremist acts in France, and detailing France’s efforts to fight extremism.
France: Policies Countering Extremism charts: the background and training of the perpetrators of the January attacks; radicalization of foreign fighters; the history of major French extremist and terrorist incidents from 1961 to the present; French international counter-extremism efforts in Africa and Afghanistan; and the results of polling data collected in September revealing French attitudes on the threat posed by Islamist-based extremism.
Resource Highlights:
Chérif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, both associated with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), were the two prime assailants. Before the Charlie Hebdo attack, Chérif had been arrested multiple times on jihadist-related charges. In 2005, he was arrested while attempting to travel to Syria to fight U.S. forces in Iraq. In 2008, he was arrested, charged, and convicted for his involvement in a local jihadist network in Paris.
The Charlie Hebdo shooting was followed by two related acts of violence in Paris on January 8 and 9. On January 8, a French police officer was shot. On January 9, a gunman attacked a kosher supermarket and took multiple hostages. Both acts were carried out by extremist assailant Amédy Coulibaly, who pledged allegiance to ISIS in a video that emerged after the shootings. In the video, Coulibaly admitted links to the Charlie Hebdo attackers and also claimed responsibility for planting a car bomb in Paris.
According to French authorities, France has become the largest source of Western fighters to Iraq and Syria, with 1,089 French nationals having travelled there as of the end of October 2014.
France is increasingly concerned about Islamist radicalization in its prisons. Muslims make up a disproportionate percentage of the prison population in France. In 2008, an estimated 60-70 percent of the prison population in France was Muslim, though Muslims constitute only an estimated 12 percent of the population.
French jihadists recruit both online and in person. In November 2014, ISIS released a recruiting video aimed at French Muslims, calling on jihadists to execute attacks in France if they could not make it to ISIS-held territory. (Source: Daily Mail).
According to CEP surveys and polling data, 30 percent of respondents in France believe the government is not spending enough to combat extremism. Compared to other European countries, most French respondents (52 percent) believe fighting Islamist extremism should be a top priority.
To view the report in its entirety, click here.
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About The Counter Extremism Project (CEP)
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideology. Led by a renowned group of former world leaders and former diplomats it will aim to combat extremism by pressuring financial support networks, countering the narrative of extremists and their online recruitment, and advocating for strong laws, policies and regulations.