French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy calls for suspected ISIS fanatics to be locked up WITHOUT TRIAL
The former French leader spoke out after it emerged that 15,000 radicalised people are on police watchlists in the country
FRANCE needs to get tough on suspected ISIS radicals by detaining them all without trial, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has said.
Sarkozy, who last month announced his candidacy for the 2017 presidential election, proposed to boost security by throwing French citizens suspected of having militant links in special detention facilities.
In an interview published in Sunday newspaper , Sarkozy said there is no place for "legal niceties" in the fight against terrorism.
"Every Frenchman suspected of being linked to terrorism, because he regularly consults a jihadist website, or his behaviour shows signs of radicalisation or because is in close contact with radicalised people, must by preventively placed in a detention centre,"; he said.
The former leader said he wants to create "special anti-terrorist court” to deal with attacks like string of jihadist assaults over the past 18 months that have left more than 230 people dead since January 2015.
His comments were made after Prime Minister Manuel Valls revealed that 15,000 radicalised people are on police watchlist in the country.
Previously authorities said about 10,000 were identified as high-risk.
Valls warned: "There will be new attacks, there will be innocent victims...this is also my role to tell this truth to the French people."
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But in an interview with French radio Valls said Sarkozy's proposals to deal with ISIS fanatics is not the right answer.
"He is wrong about trying to wring the neck of the rule of law," he added.
Sarkozy who was France's president from 2007 until 2012 when he lost to current leader Francois Hollande, has called for a “merciless” response to Islamist attacks.
"And don't tell me it would be Guantanamo," Sarkozy said in the interview. "In France, any administrative confinement is subject to subsequent control by a judge."
Guantanamo, opened by former President George W. Bush, was used to hold prisoners rounded up overseas when the US became embroiled in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Paris has been on edge since a car loaded with gas cylinders was found near Notre Dame cathedral in an incident that could have been an attack, last week.
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