The number 2 of the French Embassy in El Salvador was arrested on 2 June by the DGSI. On his return to France, he was part of the terrorist group AFO, some of whose members had been indicted for planning to poison halal food in supermarkets, throw ingiling grenades at Muslims and killing imams.

It took three months for the French authorities to communicate. This is due to the sensitivity of the case of the 51-year-old senior official who was indicted for “criminal terrorist criminal association” under judicial supervision. As well as the embarrassment of the authorities in the face of policies to prevent radicalization targeting exclusively practising Muslims and whose counterproductive effects are felt.

“The initial plan of the AFO was, during a terrorist attack of the type 13 November, to be able in the following hours to strike all over France targets recognized as being radical”, in police custody, the diplomat cited “the example of the imam of Brest”. [1] As a reminder, this Imam was shot and wounded on June 27, 2019 outside the mosque in Brest.

Al Kanz Media stated: “The shooting didn’t just take place in front of the mosque: the bullets penetrated the bodies of Rachid Eljay and his collaborator Osman, who saved his life by standing in front of the gunman – apart from a reaction from the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, the class did not react. Jean-Philippe Recappé, prosecutor of the Republic in Brest, made the colour clear: citing the letter sent by e-mail to Imam Abdelmonaim Boussenna himself, the editorial states that it “is not, in particular, what we see Islamist or jihadist attacks.” Translation: Karl Foyer, the assailant, was not a Muslim, this is not an attack. »2

The diplomat was head of the AFO’s Ile-de-France region, giving remote instructions and keeping informed of the progress of his group’s violent projects, receiving reports of meetings by email. “Military training included shooting, running, walking and making low-grade explosives,” he told investigators.

How big are these far-right terrorist cells?

Of particular concern is that there are officials and security officers who are part of these anti-Muslim terrorist cells.

Mediapart revealed the formation of these terrorist groups by noting the presence of former security forces agents: “The violent far-right’s entanglement within the security forces is a concern for intelligence. The ultra-right is structured in a rather disturbing way. And it is true that there are many military or former military personnel. Some create groups on social networks, or become radicalized through them, others can take action. » 3

There is no policy to prevent violent identity extremism in France

In France, it should be noted that anti-Muslim terrorism does not attract the interest of the political class, as for media coverage, it remains minimal.

However, on 15 May 2019, at the initiative of President Emmanuel Macron and Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, was launched jointly with 10 heads of state the “Christchurch Appeal” to fight terrorism and violent extremism online.[4]

ADM had alerted in its Report “COLLECTIVE PUNITION” [5]

“This security policy confuses Muslims and terrorists. In question: the same religious affiliation to Islam. At the same time, groups of supremacists, identities spread anti-Muslim racism and rely on these amalgams to have supporters. The arrest of extreme right-wing terrorist groups AFO, which were planning attacks on Muslims and imams, the attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, are a blatant demonstration.

Curiously, despite the Census of a large number of identities adhering to these great replacement theses, the invasion of Islam, the authorities have put in place no plan to prevent radicalisation to counter this extremism identity that leads to terrorism identity and threatens the stability of the world, as evidenced by the report on the prevention of radicalisation of March 2019.

As well as on the analysis of far-right violent extremism: “Violent extremism: propaganda on the social networks of the far right represents a major challenge for the stability of the world.”[6]

In the absence of discernment and a medium-term political vision, amalgamation largely fuels racist anti-Muslim discourse. Worse still, the errors of analysis on violent extremism mainly focus intelligence resources on practising Muslims when they have little to do with terrorism.

This is reinforced by the analyses of the educational sciences academic, Séraphin Alava, who finds that in France, the fight against the extreme right is not “valued”, and noting the lack of “technical tools that allow to really detect extremist, violent speech on the right.” It also proposes that “fighting must also be through prevention.”[7]

ADM calls for an urgent lying prevention plan to combat anti-Muslim racism at the national level, as well as training in non-discrimination within institutions, particularly for police and police officers information.

[1] Ultra-right: French diplomat indicted for “terrorism” – Jean-Michel Décugis and Jérémie Pham-Lê, 12/09/2019 http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/ultra-droite-un-diplomate-francais-mis-en-examen-pour-terrorisme-12-09-2019-8150910.php

[2] https://www.al-kanz.org/2019/07/02/attentat-rachid-eljay-abdelmonaim-boussenna/

[3] A covert cell of the ultra-right, Matthieu Suc, Marine Turchi and Jacques Massey, 25/06/2018 https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/240618/coup-de-filet-au-sein-d-une-cellule-clandestine-de-l-ultra-droite?onglet=full

[4] https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2019/05/15/appel-de-christchurch-pour-agir-contre-le-terrorisme-et-lextremisme-violent-en-ligne

[5] ADM report “COLLECTIVE PUNITION.” https://adm-musulmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/RAPPORT-ADM-22PUNITION-COLLECTIVE22-.pdf

[6] ADM analysis: “Violent extremism: propaganda on the social networks of the far right represents a major challenge for the stability of the world.” https://adm-musulmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Analyse-ADM-22-ExtreCC81misme-violent-la-propagande-sur-lesreCC81seaux-sociaux-de-lE28099extreCC82me-droite-repreCC81sente-un-deCC81fi-majeur-pour-lastabiliteCC81-du-monde.pdf

[7]Radicalization on the Internet: “The far right implements the same processes as jihadism,” by Alexandra Saviana Published on 07/05/2019: https://www.marianne.net/societe/radicalisation-sur-internet-l-extreme-droite-met-en-oeuvre-les-memes-processus-que-le