What are these human rights you speak of?
by digby
I don't know what to say about this:
France is to opt out of some aspects of the European Human Rights Convention while the state of emergency declared after this month's Paris attacks is in force. As well as raids on mosques and Islamic charities, police have swooped on radical environmentalists since the measure was introduced.
Some of the measures taken because of the state of emergency are "likely to necessitate exemption from some of the rights guaranteed" by the convention, the French authorities have told Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland.
States are allowed to opt out in case of war or a danger "threatening the life of the nation", although they cannot be exempted from certain provisions, including bans on torture and cruel and inhuman treatment.
Exemptions can be challenged at the European Court of Human Rights.
There have been 1,616 searches of premises, 211 arrests, 161 people charged and 293 weapons seized since the state of emergency was declared.
Among the premises raided have been mosques, prayer rooms and shops targeted because "radical Islamists" were said to frequent them or because some sermons given were judged extreme.
But others have been on the homes of people who have taken part in environmental protests and occupations, such as the camp at the site of the proposed airport near Nantes in western France and one aiming to stop a dam in the south-west where a protester was killed.
Several activists have been placed under house arrest, apparently for fear that they might have defied the ban on demonstrations ahead of the Cop21 climate conference, which opens on Sunday 29 December.
Obviously, all the talk about civilized Western values is just a nice little concept that has no meaning in reality. Good to know. And it's also good to be assured that one can never be too cynical about government opportunistically stretching police powers whenever possible.
The lesson here for the rest of the world is that "threatening the life of the nation" does not mean an existential threat as one might have assumed. It just means a horrific act of mass violence. Very clarifying.
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