News
Anti-terrorist prosecutors meet at Casa Árabe in Cordoba to fight Jihadism
The Anti-Terrorist Prosecutors of Morocco, France, Belgium and Spain seek greater cooperation against Jihadist terrorism
October 13, 2014
CÓRDOBA
The Public Anti-Terrorism Prosecutors of Morocco, France and Spain are celebrating a summit in Cordoba in search of greater cooperation to eradicate Jihadist terrorism, with a special emphasis on the threat created by the Islamic State. According to Spain’s General State Prosecutor, these public prosecutors will be analyzing new systems for cooperation and different prevention policies, as well as the role of the Internet and new information technologies in the expansion of international terrorism.
Attending the summit held on October 13-14 are, Javier Zaragoza, head prosecutor of the Audiencia Nacional; François Molins, head prosecutor of the Court of Highest Instance of Paris; Hassan Daki, the King’s general prosecutor in the Appeals Court of Rabat, and Frederic van Leeuwe, Belgium’s federal prosecutor.
The opening session of the Four-Party Group of Anti-Terrorism Prosecutors will include attendance by Spain’s General State Prosecutor, Eduardo Torres-Dulce; the mayor of Cordoba, José Antonio Nieto, and the General Director of Casa Árabe, Eduardo López Busquets.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special attention on the Islamic State
Torres-Dulce warns that “the fanatics who wish to impose a single way of thinking” are trying to obstruct the idea of “a more global world.”
They are analyzing the strategy of terrorist organizations using the Internet and social networks and remind us of the “high risk” existing in Spain.
CORDOBA, Oct. 13 (EUROPA PRESS) -
This Monday, the General State Prosecutor, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, warned that “it is the fanatics of a single way of thinking, based on religious, political or economic motives, who are obstructing the idea of a more global, more brotherly world of solidarity, an idea which lies in the basic idea of Justice.” This is why he defends the holding of the fifth days of work by the Four-Party Group of Anti-Terrorism Prosecutors, in this case to deal with the topic of the Jihadist phenomenon.
More specifically, Torres-Dulce officially opened the meeting by this group in Cordoba. It is made up of the public prosecutors’ offices which specialize in fighting terrorism in Morocco, France, Belgium and Spain. Until Tuesday, they will be discussing the legal cooperation necessary to eradicate Jihadist terrorism, with a special emphasis on the threat entailed by the so-called Islamic State.
In this sense, the General State Prosecutor emphasized that these work days will involve analysis of this important topic in the relations amongst these four countries, “the threat of Jihadist terrorism," and the global relations of the European Union.
In his judgment, "no matter how much we reflect on the need to use all the legal instruments possible and international cooperation," it is "essential to think that what must be ensured by Justice, above all by public prosecutors, is the peaceful co-existence of all people with respect for all cultures, ideas and debates, in a democracy in which channels may always be found to express oneself freely and to be able to debate.”
That is why we are holding this seminar, with “reflection on the terrible and troubling phenomenon of Jihadist terrorism at the global and not just European scale,” while at the same the meeting will make it possible to share points of view, create channels of “more and more important” cooperation and collaboration, as well as “reflecting on all of these topics from the perspective of criminal, cooperation-related and procedural policies, and in what way to carry out investigations, gather evidence and transcend borders, to make cooperation efficient and effective,” he pointed out.
Therefore, Torres-Dulce hopes that this meeting will become “not only a meeting point, but a place for debate and technical analysis, which leads to finding the channels for perfecting cooperation, so as to make the idea of Justice more efficient to all of the people.” He also underlines that “the need to combine the idea of tolerance is related with the necessary idea of establishing consensus.”
Definitively, the General Prosecutor trusts “the principles of democracy and cooperation with enforcement of the Law” so as “not to fall dramatically back into centuries of darkness and intolerance,” while at the same time he values in this case the example of the capital city of Cordoba, which is a “city that traditionally and at a certain time in its history was allowed, like Toledo, to become a crucible for tolerance with the co-existence of three cultures.”
PREVENTIVE ACTIONS
As for the head prosecutor of the Audiencia Nacional, Javier Zaragoza, he underlined that the work by the group of public prosecutors is “very important, bearing in mind the nine scenarios brought up by this form of terrorism, leading to new risks and threats to deal with,” in this case including “what the role of the Internet and social networks are in the expansion of violent Jihadism, in radicalization processes and in indoctrination.”
Likewise, he points out that the idea is “above all to share cases, with the large problem we have right now, which is the recruitment, travel and sending of people to areas of conflict, where they are trained, given skills and commit terrorist acts.” This leads to “an important risk when they return to their respective countries.”
Given this state of affairs, he points out that the Public Prosecutor’s Office “has very clear ideas about this topic” and that it is necessary to “use the full legal arsenal which is available, from a criminal and procedural perspective,” to which he adds, “we act preventively, because that is the only way to prevent further terrorist acts.”
In this respect, when asked about so-called “express” detentions, he indicates that they are “organized within the framework of court investigations, based on clear evidence of forming part of or cooperating with terrorist organizations,” while at the same time he warns that “the fact that people travel to areas of conflict in order to receive training is a criminal act and requires a penal response based on the adoption of precautionary measures from a procedural perspective.”
In the meantime, he comments that “the media strategy of terrorist organizations mainly involves the Internet and social networks,” and it is there, he adds, “where a more and more widespread phenomenon of radicalization and indoctrination is taking place, which ends up converting potential terrorists.”
RECRUITMENT BY ISIS
Moreover, Javier Zaragoza reminds us that Spain presents “a high level of risk, as stated by the police and intelligence services, because Spain, Belgium, France and Morocco are in a very direct line of relations with this problem.” At the same time, he alluded to the capacity for recruitment by the Islamic State, which is “absolutely unbelievable.”
Similarly, he comments that the Four-Party Group of Anti-Terrorism Prosecutors has been working since the year of 2007 on topics “fundamentally related with the investigation and persecution of international Jihadist terrorism,” because it is “a shared problem for all four countries.”
For instance, he emphasizes that, since the creation of the Group, the idea has been to “identify what the problems are in the investigations, how to solve them, what needs and legal measures must be proposed to governments in order to deal with the fight against international Jihadist terrorism in a more effective manner,” as well as “reviewing the legal systems, sharing experiences in investigations and improving international cooperation.”
By doing this, the four public prosecutors’ offices have managed to set up “a judicial space of strengthened cooperation, in which information is exchanged, experiences are shared and international cooperation on investigations and proceedings is made more fluid and flexible.”
CORDOBA’S ROLE
At the same time, the mayor of Cordoba, José Antonio Nieto, described the celebration of these days as “tremendously important” and that “they strengthen the space which Cordoba and Casa Árabe want to occupy as a site for meeting, analysis and debate over peacemaking in the world and the way to prevent the growth of terrorist movements, which are unfortunately in the news very frequently and are causing extreme situations in North Africa, Libya, Algeria, Syria and Iraq.”
In line with this, he argues that “the terrorist outlets of Jihadism are reaching Europe and have led to horrors like those lived in Spain, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium,” and therefore “dealing with these topics and knowing how to strengthen the ability of the Law and the democratic system to fight against these phenomena is the reason for holding this meeting,” the mayor pointed out.
Similarly, he emphasizes that “important conclusions will be reached,” and he trusts that “Cordoba continues to be a point of reference for seeking dialogue and solutions to phenomena that do just the opposite: they impose an ideology, even if that means using weapons and death, which is what is done by Jihadist terrorism.”
It should be mentioned that France’s delegation is headed by François Molins, the head prosecutor of the Court of Highest Instance in Paris; attending for Morocco is Hassan Daki, the King’s general prosecutor in the Appeals Court of Rabat, and also attending, for Belgium, is Frederic van Leeuwe, its federal prosecutor.
