France/Spain/Terrorism: 3 ETA suspected members arrested

Aitzol Etxaburu, Alberto Machaín Beraza and Andoni Sarasola, 3 suspected members of the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) have been arrested this Wednesday morning in Corbier Villarembert in the Savoie region, in the south-east of France. The arrested could be responsible of the military department of the terrorist group.

According to a source close to the investigation, the police have seized several guns, false identity papers and others documents. The Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo revealed that all the 3 were listed by Madrid as the most wanted terrorists; a list that was published after the bomb attack in Mallorca on July 30.

The three persons have been arrested after several month of investigation led by the Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (Sous-Direction antiterroriste - SDAT) of the Central Directorate of the French judicial police, the delegation in the General Information (Déléguation Générale à l’Information - DGI) and the Spanish intelligence services.

Mauritania/Terrorism: AQIM claims the suicide attack against the French embassy in Nouakchott

In a statement released on Tuesday morning on several jihadist websites, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed the suicide attack that targeted the French embassy in Nouakchott on August 8. AQIM says that Abou Oubaida Moussa Al Bassri, the Mauritanian attacker, detonated his explosive belt after he failed to get inside the “crusaders’ nest,” referring to the French embassy. “The operation is a reaction to the attacks conducted by the crusaders against Islam and Muslims,” the statement said, threatening that jihad will continue to “cleanse the Islamic Maghreb from Jews, crusaders and their apostate allies.”

The short statement also describes France as part of the crusaders and names the Mauritanian president who is described as an “ally of the apostates.” It was believed that the Mauritanian regime which has vowed to fight terrorism and France which supports the new Mauritanian President were the targets of the attack. The statement, however, does not give further explanations.

Meanwhile, the Mauritanian news agency ANI is reporting that several counterterrorist units have been deployed in strategic areas of the capital Nouakchott, notably near markets and Western embassies. These strengthened security measures have been implemented for the past 48 hours.

France/Iran/Security: Tehran releases Clotilde Reiss after six weeks in jail on spy charges

(Ali Rafiei/Polaris/Photo News)

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement on Sunday that Iran has freed on bail a French teaching assistant charged with spying. "The French authorities now ask that the judicial case against Clotilde Reiss and Madame Nazak Afshar, which cannot be justified in any way, come to a swift conclusion," Sarkozy's office said.

The statement said Clotilde Reiss, 24, was well and would stay in the French embassy in Tehran pending a verdict. Reiss, an assistant in French at Isfahan University, had been held in Tehran's Evin prison since the start of July after Iran disputed presidential election the previous month. She was charged with spying in a televised mass trial. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told state television earlier on Sunday that France had agreed to post bail for Reiss, saying the authorities had not sought an "enormous sum". "The verdict might come in the next eight days. Perhaps a bit longer," he said.

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has demanded her full release and return to France, saying "nothing can justify" the case against her. "Clotilde Reiss is in good health and has maintained good spirits," Sarkozy said after talking to Reiss on Sunday night. The French government said the charges against her were "fantasist" and the case has become a cause celebre in France, straining relations between Tehran and Paris. Nazak Afshar, a French embassy employee, who faces the same charges, was conditionally released earlier this week by Iran and will also stay at the embassy ahead of the verdict.

Mauritania/France/Terrorism: Paris opens a counter terrorism investigation after the attack against French Embassy in Nouakchott 

French justice opened an investigation on Sunday after the attack against the French embassy in Nouakchott, Saturday night.   The attack was the first attack by a suicide bomber in Mauritania history.  

Two French security guards were slightly wounded in the attack which caused no major damages to the building.  

The attack took place three days after Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was sworn in as president. Opposition denounced his election as a fraud but Paris decided to support him. 

Mauritania has been the theatre of violent terrorist attacks since a few years and. In December 2007, four French tourists were killed in the south of the country.

In last June, Christopher Legett, an American aid worker was killed by al-Qaeda sympathizers.  

As President Ould Abdel Aziz decided to make the struggle against al-Qaeda his top priorities, AQIM could try to attack western interests to prove it is a real force in the country.

France/Civil unrest: Unions and local airline sign draft agreement in New Caledonia

French TV station France 24 reported on Thursday that a draft agreement has been signed between the Union of Kanaky and Exploited Workers (USTKE) and regional airline company Air Caledonie (AirCal) in New Caledonia. The agreement has considerably subsided the week-long protests and clashes by angry Kanak protesters over the jailing of union leader Gerard Jodar. Jodar has been arrested for attacking the domestic airport during a disagreement with AirCal in May. In the capital city of Noumea, roadblocks have been removed and life seems to return to normal again.

Meanwhile, Paris has declared its plans to deploy police reinforcements to the territory in order to completely end the unrest. The French Department for Overseas Territories said, “By this weekend, 70 gendarmes will be deployed to reinforce four other units already in New Caledonia”. Nouméa’s authorities however said they were no longer needed. About 30 police officers and 4 protesters have reportedly been injured during the incidents, while authorities have detained 13 demonstrators.

France/Civil Unrest : New clashes erupt in New Caledonia

At least 6 people – 2 gendarmes and 4 protesters – have been injured on Wednesday during fresh clashes in Saint Louis, in the outskirts of Nouméa, New Caledonia capital.

According to local reports, USTKE (Union syndicale des travailleurs kanaks et des exploités – Union of Kanaks and exploited workers) members fired at police with shotguns from behind barricades made of burning tyres. Police said that 13 protesters were arrested following the incident.

At least 27 police officers had already been injured on Monday during similar clashes in North Province capital Kone.

The incidents started following a social conflict at the domestic airline Air Calédonie (AirCal). UTSKE, which has multiplied violent actions since its foundation in 1981, is however suspected to use the situation to promote it is separatist views. “The Aircal dispute is a pretext. What USTKE really wants is to create tension,” indeed said Yves Dassonville, French High Commissioner in Nouméa.

Al-Qaïda menace la France

 

Dans une partie de son nouveau message diffusé ce lundi 3 août, Ayman al-Zawahiri, « numéro 2 » d’al-Qaïda, menace la France.

La plus grand part de ce message diffusé par al-Sahab, la branche “communication” de la nébuleuse al-Qaïda, al-Zawahiri répète l’offre de trêve conditionnelle déjà proposée aux Etats-Unis par Oussama Ben Laden dans le passé.  

Mais dans un autre passage, totalement ignoré par les médias grands publics, Ayman al-Zawahiri s’en prend à la laïcité française. Il rappelle les positions de Paris sur le voile, cite le récent discours du président Nicolas Sarkozy sur la burqa « qui n’est pas la bienvenue en France » et ajoute que la France est une alliée du sionisme et des Juifs « depuis Napoléon » (sic !). 

Il conclut « La France paiera pour tous ses crimes si Dieu le veut ».  

Dans la sémantique d’al-Qaïda, ce type de phraséologie annonce habituellement de nouveaux attentats ou incite à en commettre. 

ESISC estime donc que les intérêts français pourraient être particulièrement menacés dans les mois à venir, non seulement dans l’hexagone, mais également en Afrique du Nord, au Moyen Orient et dans la région pakistano-afghane. 

al-Qaeda threatens France 

In a part of his new message released today on some Islamists websites (see our 02:58 PM alert) Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda second-in-command threatens France. 

Most of the message  is a repetition of the truce already “offered” to the United States by Ossama Bin laden in the past.

 

But in another part of the message (posted by al-Sahab, the communication center of al-Qaeda), largely ignored by the media, al-Zawahiri attacks the French secularism.

He specially underlines the position of France on the Muslim veil and the statement of President Nicolas Sarkozy on the Burqa “not welcome in France”. He says also that France is allied to the Jews and the Zionists “since Napoleon”.  

Al-Zawahiri concludes this part of its statement saying “France will pay for all is crimes, God willing”.   

In the al-Qaeda words, this kind of statement usually announces terrorist attacks. 

ESISC assesses tonight that the French interest both in France and abroad – especially in North Africa, Middle East, and in Pakistan and Afghanistan could be at high risk in the coming weeks

France/Justice: Régis Schleicher will be granted of a temporary release

The appeal court of Paris has confirmed on Thursday the temporary release of Régis Schleicher, a former member of the French ultra-left armed group “Action Directe” (AD). The man had been condemned in 1987 to a life sentence for the murder of two policemen in Paris in 1983. He had also got a second life sentence in 1988 for hold-up and murder attempt on police officers. In January 2006, he was finaly sentenced to five years in jail after he had tried to escape from his prison in 2003.

His temporary release consists in working during the day in a company which take care of old persons in the city of Lyon (in the Rhône-Alpes department which border Italy and Switzerland) and then to return in prison in the evening to sleep there.

Among the AD team already condemned, Max Frérot has already been granted of a temporary release, Nathalie Ménigon has been freed on parole and Jean-Marc Rouillan as well as Georges Cipriani are still in jail. The Sentence enforcement Court of Paris refused in February to release on parole Jean-Marc Rouillan after he gave a debated interview to the news magazine l’Express in which he explained his involvement in the New anti-capitalist party (Nouveau parti anti-capitaliste – NPA) of former presidential candidate Olivier Besancenot. During the interview, he said that it should remain a “revolutionary” party and “carry the conflict until confrontation”.

France/Somalia/Insurgency: Paris sends commandos to Mogadishu

(Rossi Xavier/Gamma/Photo News)

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced on Thursday that France has sent Special Forces to Mogadishu. He did did not give the reason but it is maybe to recover the French hostages held by Somali Islamist group. Kouchner confirmed that his government has sent a warship and helicopters on Thursday to the coast of Mogadishu and Marka in southern Somalia.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kouchner said that information coming out of Somalia about the hostages was "very contradictory." He said that to his knowledge, the two men are being held separately by two different militant groups. "We are doing everything in our power, with all the French, to hasten their release," the minister told reporters during a press conference. He said that the talks aimed at freeing the hostages were conducted via the French embassy in Nairobi, adding that France had not asked the Somali government for the permission to send in commandos. "Priority is given to negotiations, but we don't exclude anything," Kouchner said.

The men were seized July 14 in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, while on an official mission to help train Somalia's security forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen.

France/Terrorism: a car bomb targets the police station of Vescovato

A bomb laden car exploded on Wednesday morning at 6:00 am (local time) in front of the police station of Vescovato (High Corsica), damaging seriously the building. No injuries have been reported and the attack has not been claimed yet. Pieces of metal and rubbles that could have hit bystanders or motorists, were projected onto the pavement, underlined a police source close to the investigation.

“The attack has only made material damages but it could have killed. The 20 years old son of a policeman was thrown by the blast of the explosion without being hit as he was going to his work with his bicycle,” denounced Antoine Poussier, the chief of staff of the Prefecture of High Corsica. Three families of policemen and seven mobile police squadron from Sarreguemines, who came as reinforcements in Corsica for the summer, were in the police station at the time of the explosion.

Somalia/France/Kidnapping: abductors hand over French hostages to Hizbul Islam

Senior Somali police officer Abdiqadir Odweyne said Wednesday that gunmen who kidnapped 2 French security men have handed them to the radical Hizbul Islam group. The Frenchmen were abducted from a hotel in Mogadishu on Tuesday by armed men in government military uniforms. "The two French hostages have now changed hands, they are held by Islamist rebels in Mogadishu. Talks with the government for their release are still ongoing," said another top official who asked not to be named.

Meanwhile, Odweyne also said the Islamist Al-Shabaab group is trying to take the hostages from Hizbul Islam. "Al Shabaab wants to take the Frenchmen from Hizbul Islam, they are on the verge of fighting," he said. "Al Shabaab wants to kill the Frenchmen and Hizbul Islam refuses,” he added. Hizbul Islam's situation is described as a dilemma, where the group can not give up the hostages to Al-Shabaab or “hand over to the government or hold them for other purposes.”

2 French journalists kidnapped in Mogadishu

After having stormed an hotel in Mogadishu, somali gunmen have kidnapped two French journalists on Tuesday. "Several gunmen entered the Sahafi Hotel, pointed guns at the guards and went into the hotel rooms where they took away the two French nationals," said the hotel manager.

France/civil unrest: demonstration turns violent overnight near Paris

(Fohlen Corentin/Gamma/Photo News)

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets on Monday evening in Montreuil in Seine-Saint-Denis (a suburb of Paris) to protest against violence committed by the police. The demonstration turned violent first near the town hall when protesters used firework display against the police which did not retaliate because the leaders tried to modify the route of the demonstration in a gesture of appeasement. A second face to face occurred later and police decided to charge the protesters and to use teargas. Several people were arrested by the police.

“I do not think that violence came from the demonstrators, but from many police officers,” said Dominique Voynet, the Mayor of Montreuil, during an interview on Tuesday morning to the radio France Info. She also denounced the disproportionate violence by the police last night.

The demonstration started after a youth had suffered injuries to his face on July 8 when police used a defense weapons with soft bullets (flashball). Joachim Gatti, the victim was indeed protesting against a decision to evict inhabitants from a disused hospital. According to his father the incident “is not a blunder, but a police brutality.”

Somalia/France/Insurgency: pair kidnapped in Mogadishu are French agents

The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the two foreigners kidnapped on Tuesday in Mogadishu are not journalists but French agents who were invited to train Somali intelligence officers. "They are not journalists, the two work for the French government. They were invited by the defence ministry to do some training for their counterparts in the Somali intelligence services," a government official said on condition of anonymity. "They have been in Somalia nine days," the official added, without elaborating on the pair's identity.

Unidentified Somali gunmen abducted the men from a hotel in the Somalian capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, a hotel staffer said. According to witnesses a group of about 10 gunmen wearing Somali police uniforms arrived at the hotel abducted and took them in a vehicle towards Mogadishu's Bakara market, an Islamist stronghold.

France/Justice: Justice Minister requests an appeal on the Barbarian gang sentences

The French justice minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has asked this Monday the public prosecutor’s department to appeal the verdict that was pronounced in the trial of the “Barbarian gang”.  The Court found not guilty two persons, Alassane D. and Muriel Izouard. Nine persons have been convicted between six months and three years in jail but all of them have been set free. Fourteen persons have been charged between five and eighteen years in jail and the leader of the gang, Youssouf Fofana has been condemned for his part to life imprisonment and will certainly remains twenty-two years in jail.

The counsel for the prosecution Philippe Bilger talked about “exemplary sentences.” “The term 'Barbarian gang' makes no sense. There is one barbarian, Youssouf Fofana, who was sentenced to the maximum penalty and those whose punishment was to be judged by their responsibilities" said Philippe Bilger. “The ruling is exemplary in every way,” he added. “It has taken some of my submissions to the letter and, for others it has complied with the hierarchy of responsibilities that I proposed,” he concluded.

Many Jewish organisations, including the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France - CRIF), have questioned the verdict, saying it was too lenient.  The National Office of Vigilance against anti-Semitism (Bureau national de vigilance contre l'antisémitisme) has called for his part to demonstrate on Monday evening at the Place Vendome in Paris, near the Ministry of Justice, to demand an appeal. The Union of Jewish Students said it was also shocked by the verdict, holding that everything has been done to "avoid drawing the lessons" of an anti-Semitic murder by requiring the trial in camera.

France/Civil unrests : new clashes in Firminy after a youth hung himself in a police station

New clashes erupted in Firminy (Loire Region) on Wednesday night after Mohamed Benmouna, a youth who tried to commit suicide in the police station in the suburb of Saint-Etienne on Tuesday, finally died on Wednesday. According to the police, Mohamed Benmouna who was suspected to be link in a case of extortion of money hung himself in his cell.

After his death, five cars have been burned in the city as well as an unoccupied building. However, the violence was not as high as it was during the previous night when nine youths had been arrested. Indeed about sixty protesters went down the streets early on Wednesday moring. They burned 32 cars and threw cobble stones against the police which retaliated by using tear gas. After the demonstrations, the police was deployed in the city to prevent any second offence.

Abdelkader Benmouna, the father of Mohamed said he “trusts in the justice”. “I want to know what happened during the night when he (Mohamed) was in the police station. Either the police did not keep an eye on him, or the suicide is a pretext,” he said. A family spokesman however appealed for calm saying that “burning and breaking things are not a solution”.

Iran/France/Security: detained French teacher speaks with ambassador

According to a senior Western diplomat on Thursday, a French ambassador to Iran met teacher Clotilde Reiss, detained last week in Iran on the charges of espionage. She was preparing to return home after a stint as a French language teacher at the University of Isfahan when she was arrested. "Ambassador (Bernard Poletti) met her this morning. She was okay physically," said the diplomat.

Meanwhile, according to AFP reports, Reiss had a short telephonic conversation with Poletti on Wednesday. "It was a short conversation," said a diplomatic source. "It was a very brief talk which lasted only a few seconds. The call was made from the prison to the embassy," it added. Earlier on Tuesday, President Nicolas Sarkozy had strongly urged Iran to release her immediately.

France/Iran/Security : a French student has been detained in Evrin (Iran) since July 1st

The French Foreign ministry has announced on Monday evening that a French student of 23 year old, Clotilde Reiss had been arrested in Iran since July 1st because she was suspected to spy for Paris. “France is strongly condemning the arrest and the detention by Iran of a French student,” said the spokesperson of the Foreign ministry, adding the women had been arrested as she was at the airport for coming back to France. The Iranian ambassador in Paris, Seyed Mehdi Miraboutalebi has been convened on Monday.

According to a diplomatic source, the defendant was a reader at the university of Ispahan and Iranian authorities suspected her to have taken part to the violent demonstration against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The spying allegation are based on an e-mail the women sent to one of his friend in Tehran to inform him about the situation in Ispahan. However, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said yesterday to the television “she was innocent and so, must be freed”. “She was present during the demonstration that have (...) gathered hundreds of thousands of Iranians and, like most of them did, she took pictures in all innocence, here is what she is accused of,” explained Bernard Kouchner

After France has started several diplomatic processes that failed, Paris has decided to bring the case at the European level. During his meeting yesterday with the British Prime minister Gordon Brown, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has talked about the issue. On July 3st, the European Union members had already decided to convene their Iranian ambassador to protest against the arrest of the British embassy staff in Tehran.

Tehran often arrests foreigners to use them as bargaining chips with Western countries. In 2006 and 2007, the tourist Stephane Lherbien had been arrested as he was on board of a ship, off the Iranian coast. The Iranian supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei had granted him a Pardon to. The researcher Stephane Dudoignon had also been arrested after Tehran authorities suspected him to spy for France as well as the filmmaker Mehnoushe Solouki. For the political crisis has begun, Tehran has often accused Western countries, including France, the United Kingdom and the United States to back the demonstration against the presidential election.

France/Spain/Terrorism: 3 ETA suspects arrested in Pau are still in custody

Police sources have revealed this Monday that three persons suspected to be members of the Basque separatist organisation ETA were still in custody. The three persons had been arrested on Saturday in Idron, a suburb of the city of Pau (in the region of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, south-east of France) during a police raid. They were arrested as they were carrying, in a stolen car, computer equipments, money and camping equipments. Each one had also a handgun.

According to Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the Spanish Interior minister, Asier Borrero, Itziar Plaza and Iurgi Garitagoitia (photo) were one of the most active groups belonging to the terrorist organisation. The minister also added that Asier Borrero is suspected to have opened fire against police officers on June 8 in Lozère (South of France). He is also suspected to be the head with Iurgi Garitagoitia of the commandos’ squads that are currently operating in Spain. Itziar Plaza could be for her part one of the responsible of the military department of the terrorist organisation.

ETA, whose initials stand for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language, is considered as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States. It is blamed for the deaths of more than 800 people in its 40-year campaign for an independent Basque nation. Peace talks between the government and ETA broke off after the rebel group blew up a car park at Madrid airport in December 2006, killing two.