France extends state of emergency amid rights concerns

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner time, Antho Bolamba reports to his local police station in a Paris suburb. He can't leave his house at night or France at all.

Placed under house arrest four days after the November 2015 Paris bombing and shooting attacks as part of a nationwide state of emergency, the 38-year-old Muslim has no choice.

"Otherwise I will go to jail," Bolamba told The Associated Press in a phone interview as France decided Thursday, Dec. 15 to prolong until July 15 the state of emergency declared within hours of the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks, AP said.

Bolamba, who has not been charged with any crimes, is among hundreds of people who faced house arrest since French President Francois Hollande declared the state of emergency following the attacks carried out by Islamic extremists that killed 130 people.

The exceptional emergency declaration, which has been renewed five times now, expanded police powers to carry out searches and put people under house arrest, and allowed authorities to ban protests and close mosques.

It was meant to be temporary. But the horrific Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that left 86 dead this summer, along with intelligence suggesting the threat of more attacks remains high, prompted the government to keep it in place, drawing criticism from many non-governmental organizations.

Bolamba, who was born in Congo and immigrated to France when he was 3 years old, was prohibited from leaving the country because of his alleged links to Islamic extremists through an aid group for Muslim prisoners he established six years ago. He insists he did nothing wrong, but French authorities say former volunteers and officials of the group traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight.

While the French government sees the prolonged emergency state as "absolutely necessary" to protect the country against the risk of new terror attacks, its detractors claim it undermines individual rights, AP said.

In a context of growing Islamophobia, Human Rights Watch recently warned that the rolling emergency state has been used in discriminatory and disproportionate ways, while Amnesty International unsuccessfully urged French lawmakers not to extend it.

According to Amnesty International, out of 95 people under house arrest as of December, 37, including Bolamba, have been confined in their home for a year or more.

"The rights of hundreds of men, women and children have been trampled, leaving them traumatized and stigmatized," Amnesty said.

Bolamba, for his part, claims house arrest feels like "a torture." He lost the job he had for 10 years with a phone company. He said he was fired because he could not do the job under the conditions of his confinement.

According to Bolamba, his aid association, known as Sanabil, provided support to hundreds of inmates across the world, including in the United States, "whatever the crimes they committed."