FRANCE 24
French government unveils new law tackling Islamist extremism
December 9, 2020

The text was originally titled the “anti-separatism” bill, a term Macron has used to refer to radical Islamists withdrawing from mainstream society. Following criticism of that term, it is now called a “draft law to strengthen republican values”, mostly secularism and freedom of expression. Defending the bill at a press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said the text does not target religious freedom but is aimed at “the nefarious ideology of radical Islamism”. Castex described the proposed bill as “a law of freedom, of protection and emancipation in the face of religious fundamentalism.” The law was in the pipeline before the murder in October of Samuel Paty, a junior high school teacher who was attacked in the street and beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a civics class. READ MORE