French government will not reveal names of terror suspects
The French interior ministry will not share the details of individuals who are on the so-called ‘Fiche S’ a list of people that the security services are watching but who have not been charged with any crime.
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In an interview with the weekly newspaper, Journal du Dimanche, the minister said that to do so could compromise ongoing and future investigations.
The list has been under the spotlight since the attacks on the Charlie Hebo magazine in January 2015 by jihadists who killed 12 people.
The interview follows demands by Guy Lefrand, conservative mayor of the Normandy town of Evreux that the list, which is thought to contain the names of people who have adopted radical Islam and who are thought to pose a threat to France, should be given to town Mayors.
Cazeneuve, while admitting there is a problem, said it was important to provide town halls with the means to combat radicalization that did not impede the efforts of the security services.
Conservative presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy, who was president of France from 2007 to 2012, said on Friday that if he was re-elected he would immediately hold a referendum on whether “the most dangerous suspects on the ‘Fiche S’ should be kept in administrative detention”.
“Detaining individuals who haven’t committed any crime just because they have been caught by the radar of the intelligence services is inefficient, unconstitutional and contrary to the values of the French Republic,” he said.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls recently confirmed that there are currently 10,500 people on the “Fiche S” watch list, which has 16 sub-categories based on an individual’s threat potential.
Islamists who have travelled overseas to wage jihad and have since returned to France are categorised as “S14”.
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