News / France

France justice minister quits over terrorism bill

Wednesday, 27 January 2016 4:54 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 27 January 2016 4:55 PM ]

France’s outgoing Justice Minister Christiane Taubira

The French justice minister has stepped down in protest at the government’s controversial plan to strip convicted French-born terrorists of their citizenship if they have a second nationality.

Christiane Taubira announced her resignation in a tweet on Wednesday, saying, "Sometimes to resist means staying, sometimes resisting means leaving.”

The minister from French Guiana became France's most senior black politician when she was named to the portfolio in 2012.

Taubira's resignation came just hours before a parliament commission debate on the contentious proposal, including a range of measures for convicted terrorists that would go from depriving them of the right to vote and the right to become a civil servant, to revoking their citizenship.

French President Francois Hollande called for the measures to be written into the constitution after terror attacks in and around the French capital city of Paris on November 15, 2015. Some 130 people lost their lives and 350 others were injured in the assaults claimed by Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

People gather in front of a makeshift memorial at the Republic Square in Paris, France, on December 13, 2015, a month after the Paris terror attacks. ©AFP

Presenting the bill, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reassured that France would respect its obligations under international law preventing people from becoming stateless.

Taubira had criticized the plan, calling it discriminatory and useless in preventing the radicalization of French citizens.

Jean-Jacques Urvoas, the president of parliamentary committee in charge of reviewing the legislation, was named as the new justice minister.

Following the Paris attacks, France has been under a state of emergency, giving authorities extra powers to keep people in their homes without trial and search houses without judicial approval.

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