U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 - France

Throughout 2004, France continued to pursue one of Europe's most effective and aggressive counterterrorism policies and made significant terrorism-related arrests. In April, French authorities shut down a cell of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) that was considered to be extremely dangerous. In July, the Government took custody of four former detainees at Guantanamo Bay and charged them with terrorist conspiracy; all four remain in pretrial detention with trials expected to begin in 2005. In October, French and Spanish authorities struck a significant blow to ETA terrorism through the arrest in France of two top ETA leaders and the seizure of significant arms and materials caches. Judicial and police investigations following the high-profile arrests in 2003 of German national Christian Ganczarski and Moroccan national Karim Mehdi continued in 2004. Ganczarski and Mehdi, who are suspected of ties to al-Qa'ida, remain in pretrial detention in France. The investigation into the activities of suspected terrorist Djamel Beghal concluded in late 2004. His trial, as well as the trials of seven associates, will begin in January 2005. The Beghal network is suspected of planning a number of terrorist acts, including an attack on the US Embassy in Paris.

The Ministry of Finance's terrorism financing coordination cell TRACFIN maintained direct coordination with the US Treasury Department. At the level of the European Union, France played an active role in the Clearinghouse, the Union's terrorism financing coordination body. France has not designated HAMAS-affiliated charities, arguing that they have no links to terrorism, and continues to oppose designating Lebanese Hizballah as a terrorist organization. France took rapid action in support of US requests to freeze Taliban, al-Qa'ida, and other terrorist financial assets.

In 2004, France expanded its international judicial cooperation. In addition to bringing into force the European Arrest Warrant, France signed with the United States two new agreements in September that updated a bilateral extradition treaty and improved overall counterterrorism cooperation.