The Counter Extremism Project today released an updated resource on extremism and counter extremism measures in France.

ISIS’s recent release of a video showing a young boy executing an accused Israeli spy identified as Arab Israeli Muhammad Musallam was the group’s latest attempt to shock and intimidate the world.

Agence France-Presse reported that the young executioner, identified in the video as “Ryan,” is a 12-year-old French national and the stepbrother of Toulouse gunman Mohammed Merah. Merah killed seven people and injured five in Montauban and Toulouse, France over 11 days in 2012.  The victims included three French paratroopers, a rabbi, his two children (aged four and five), and another eight-year old child.  The adult in the ISIS video who orders “Ryan” to carry out the execution is reportedly his stepfather, Sabri Essid. 

France is in the midst of implementing a number of new counter-jihadism programs and regualtions in the wake of the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks and murder of hostages at a kosher grocery store, including the Stop-Djihadisme (Stop Jihadism) campaign, counter-jihadism measures in its schools and prisons, travel and welfare benefits restrictions on suspected foreign fighters and the blocking of extremist websites.

In light of the video’s release and other events, CEP is releasing an updated resource on the context surrounding the making of the video and France's efforts to fight extremism.  

France: Extremism & Counter-Extremism covers: recent changes in French laws and policies; domestic radicalization; foreign fighters; the history of major French extremist incidents from 1961 to the present; France’s counter-extremism efforts abroad; and the results of polling data revealing French attitudes on the threat posed by Islamist extremism. 

Resource Highlights

• French authorities on March 16 block five websites accused of condoning terrorism, the first use of new government powers that came into force in February.
• On March 17, France’s interior minister announces that the government has cut welfare benefits to 290 French citizens who have left the country to join jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria.
• According to French authorities, France has become the largest source of Western fighters to Iraq and Syria, with nearly 1,300 French nationals having travelled to ISIS-controlled territory.
• In November 2014, French parliament passed the so-called “French Patriot Act,” which authorizes a travel ban on suspected terrorists.
• The law also authorizes the government to block websites that “glorify terrorism.” The first reported case of a government-censored jihadist site was reported on March 16, 2015.
• The 2012 Toulouse shootings were a series of attacks carried out by French-born Mohammed Merah. The attacks took place in the southwestern French cities of Montauban and Toulouse between March 11 and March 22. Three French paratroopers, a rabbi, his two children aged four and five, and another eight-year old child, were shot and killed by Merah.
• 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 updated report in its entirety, click here.