The French jihadi

Enfant de la Patrie

Nov 18th 2014

HE IS French, 22 years old, and comes from a quiet rural village in Normandy. He is also, the French government suspects, one of the executioners in a video released by Islamic State (IS) on November 16th which shows the beheading of 14 Syrian soldiers and Peter Kassig, an American aid worker. France has been well aware for some time of the problem of home-grown jihadist recruits. But the revelation that one of them seems to have taken part in beheadings is of an altogether different order of concern.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, tentatively identified the young man (pictured, at right) as Maxime Hauchard, from the Norman hamlet of Bosc-Roger-en-Roumois. Stunned neighbours described a quiet boy not known to be a troublemaker. Mr Hauchard converted to Islam at the age of 17, according to French news reports, having become radicalised through the internet and social media.

After two trips to Mauritania, Mr Hauchard arrived in Syria via Turkey in 2013, according to his now-closed Facebook page (retrieved by the Middle East Media Research Institute). By then, he had adopted the name Abdallah Al-Faransi; the surname means “the Frenchman”. French security specialists who have studied the IS video suggest that there is a “very strong probability” that Mr Hauchard is one of the executioners. Mr Cazeneuve said that it was possible that there was also another French citizen in the video.

Home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority, France has been concerned for months about the growing number of jihadist recruits heading to Syria and Iraq. President François Hollande, on a visit to Australia, said on November 18th that there were about 1,000 French citizens either fighting there, on their way to battle, or back home. At least 36 of them have been killed. In total numbers, France is the biggest single European supplier of jihadists. Last month, 11 members of a single family from Nice in the south of France, including a brother, two sisters and their children, left for Syria together.

The apparent identification of Mr Hauchard has put fresh pressure on the government to step up its efforts to curb departures and combat radicalisation. Last month the National Assembly passed a new anti-terrorism bill, which turns individual terrorist intent into a criminal offence (the current law requires “association” with others). It also gives the authorities strong powers to prevent suspects leaving France if there is “serious reason” to believe their trip is linked to terrorist activity, and in such cases to confiscate their passport for six months; this can be renewed for up to two years.

Yet the French realise that they cannot fight recruitment to jihad through the law and secret services alone. As it is, prison on French soil can end up radicalising inmates, undermining anti-terrorism efforts. So the government is also turning to softer approaches. In particular, it has been experimenting with specialist anti-radicalisation teams, made up of psychologists, social workers and lawyers. These are often contacted by worried parents, who can also call an official telephone hotline if they are concerned about their children.

The effort is time-consuming and labour-intensive, but the interior ministry reckons that such schemes have so far prevented about 70-80 departures for Syria. A public-awareness programme is in preparation for the December or January. The French have traditionally built their counter-terrorism strategy on intelligence and uncompromising law-enforcement. The suspected involvement of Mr Hauchard stresses the need to wage a parallel psychological battle—and underlines how daunting that battle will be.