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ISLAMIST

France deports ‘Islamist extremist’ to Morocco

France said on Thursday it had expelled a Moroccan citizen linked with an Islamist extremist group from French territory. The move comes days after Interior Minister Manuel Valls vowed to deport several radical Islamist preachers.

France deports 'Islamist extremist' to Morocco
File photo of police arresting Forsane Alizza Islamic radical group's leader Mohamed Achamlane in March 30, 2012. Photo Jean Sebastian Evrard/AFP

The interior ministry said in a statement that Ali Benhamou had been expelled to Morocco under an expulsion order following "serious charges" against him.

It linked him with a group known as Forsane Alizza, which was banned in France last year and saw 13 of its members arrested and charged under anti-terrorism laws.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Tuesday that Paris was set to deport a string of radical Islamic preachers as part of a fight against "global jihadism".

"Several radical foreign preachers will be expelled in the coming days," Valls told a Brussels conference called to tackle extremism in Europe, without identifying any of the individuals concerned.

"I don't confuse this radical Islam with the Islam of France but there is a religious environment, there are Salafist groupings, who are involved in a political process, whose aim is to monopolize cultural associations and schools," he added.

"We will expel all these imams, all these foreign preachers who denigrate women, who hold views that run counter to our values and who say there is a need to combat France.

"We have to be extremely firm and that I will be," he said.

France is on red alert against a terror attack after its military intervention in Mali. Security has been increased at airports and train stations around the country.

This is not the first time France has tried to crack down on radical clerics. In March last year former President Nicolas Sarkozy banned four Muslim preachers from entering France to attend an Islamic conference, saying their "calls for hatred and violence" were a threat to public order.

The banning order came in the wake of al-Qaeda inspired Mohammed Merah's deadly shooting spree in Toulouse and Montauban.

On Wednesday two associates of Merah were arrested by French police. Click here to read the full story.

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RACISM

‘Biggest threat to our country’: Germany records post-war all-time high in far-right crime

The number of crimes committed by right-wing extremists in post-war Germany jumped to its highest level ever recorded in 2020, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

'Biggest threat to our country': Germany records post-war all-time high in far-right crime
A rally in February 2021 to remember the victims of the racist attacks in Hanau. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Andreas Arnold

Police recorded 23,604 crimes of a far-right nature last year, a jump of over five percent on the previous year, and the highest figure since records began in 2001.

“Right-wing extremism remains the biggest threat to our country,” said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer as he presented the figures at a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that right-wing violence had left a “trail of blood” through Germany in recent years, citing deadly far-right crimes such as the murder of pro-refugee politician Walter Lübcke in 2019 and the 2020 racist attack in Hanau which killed nine people.

The 2020 figure just exceeds the previous high of 23,555, recorded at the height of the refugee crisis in 2016, while the total number of politically motivated crimes also reached a new all-time high of 44,692.

READ ALSO: German police arrest ‘NSU.2’ suspect over neo-Nazi threats

Noting that there had also been a sharp rise in the numbers of left-wing extremist and Islamist crimes, Seehofer said the figures showed a “brutalisation of our society”.

“They are unsettling, above all because they show that the trend of recent years is continuing,” he said.

The number of politically motivated crimes was a “yardstick for the mood in society”, and especially so in a year in which “the pandemic has caused further polarisation”, he added.

German police have recorded “politically motivated crimes” since 2001.

Those categorised as right-wing extremist range from giving a forbidden Nazi salute to murderous attacks.

The latest figures come amid growing concerns in Germany over the rise of violent right-wing extremism.

READ ALSO: What is Germany doing to combat the far-right after Hanau attacks?

A survey carried out in eight of Germany’s 16 states showed that three to four people were targeted by right-wing extremist attacks per day, victims’ association VBRG said Tuesday.

The attacks mainly targeted refugees, migrants and black Germans, said VBRG chair Judith Porath, adding that anti-Asian violence had also increased since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

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