The law was put together in high gear after the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty last October by a Muslim extremist. Paty had shown Mohammed cartoons in his class in a lesson on freedom of speech.
The teacher’s murder sparked outrage. Sun 81 percent of the French say they think it is important that stricter action is taken against extremists, as the law envisages.
‘Samuel Paty-article’
The plans, which have now been approved by the Chamber, will punish radical Muslims more harshly and monitor them more strictly.
Someone could soon be jailed for three years if he or she puts someone’s private information online, putting that person at risk. That legal article is called the ‘Samuel Paty article’. Social media mentioned the teacher’s school, which allowed the killer to find Paty.
Threats against officials are also punished more severely. Doctors are no longer allowed to issue ‘virginity certificates’. And polygamy, marriages with several partners at the same time, is tackled more harshly.
Homeschooling restricted
The law also wants to put Islamic organizations and mosques under the magnifying glass. Mosques must better justify why and when they receive money from abroad. Cultural organizations must subscribe to French norms and values before they are eligible for grants.
Home education is being curtailed. According to the government, parents with extremist ideas sometimes keep their children at home to teach them themselves. The possibilities for this are limited.
Hundreds of amendments
Analysts say President Emmanuel Macron’s new law is mostly right-wing voters wants to reassure you in view of the presidential elections to be held next year.
Macron expects to face the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen again in 2022, just as he did in the last elections in 2017. By proposing a law against Muslim extremism, he wants to cut away the electoral grass from her feet.
Incidentally, the law was not passed without a struggle. There is 135 hours debated and various parties came up with hundreds of amendments. The left-wing opposition said it feared that Muslims would be stigmatized. The right-wing opposition argued for tougher measures.
Now that the House of Representatives has approved the law, the House will have the floor from the end of next month. President Macron will encounter problems there. His own LREM party is in the majority in the Lower House, but the right-wing opposition has the most seats in the Senate. There will therefore be an attempt to tighten the law even further.
The final version of the law then returns to the House of Representatives for a final vote.
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