Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth on January 21, 2014 in Berlin -

John Macdougall AFP

"France seems to equate Islam in general with the terrorist threat," said Kenneth Roth, director general of Human Rights Watch, on Tuesday, on the eve of the publication of the NGO's annual report.

“We have been deeply concerned about the way the French government has responded to the terrorist threat.

Yes, there are acts of violence, but the government seems to equate Islam in general with the terrorist threat, and this is a huge mistake, ”said the head of the international human rights NGO, questioned. in Geneva.

Article 24 at the heart of critics

“France, despite its tradition of secularism, must find a way to respect people's right to believe and to manifest their belief, as long as there is no violence.

If the government demonizes any believer and equates belief with violence, it will drive people away from the state and push religion underground, which is ultimately very dangerous, ”he said, reacting to two draft legislation in France including the much contested bill on "global security" but also a text on separatism.

Article 24 of the global security project had aroused the anger in particular of the press but also of many human rights organizations who saw it as an attack on the freedom to inform.

In its initial version, article 24 prohibited and penalized the malicious dissemination of images of the police.

"It is legitimate citizen activism to photograph the police"

Faced with the outcry provoked by this article, the government finally left it to Parliament to find a new wording when the text is due to go before the Senate in January.

“It is important to recognize that it is legitimate journalism, legitimate citizen activism, to photograph police in a confrontational situation as a means of reducing police abuse.

If you take away that visual evidence, you give the police a chance to do whatever they want.

Simple testimony has never been enough to hold the police to account and visual evidence is essential, ”said Kenneth Roth.

The Senate has embarked on a complete rewrite of this article.

Society

Training of imams in France: the great Mosque of Paris withdraws from the project

Politics

Bill on “separatism”: Structuring Islam, Emmanuel Macron's delicate project

  • Islam

  • Human rights watch

  • Society

  • Terrorism

  • Religion