Monday, April 2, 2012

Lawyer: French arrests misdirected

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Mohammed Merah killed seven people in a series of attacks.Mohammed Merah killed seven people in a series of attacks.NEW: Lawyer: The Forsane Alizza group wants to protect the rights of Muslims in FranceThe Islamist group's leader says it had no contact with gunman Merah, his lawyer says19 suspected members of the Forsane Alizza group were arrested Friday, authorities saidPolice have been investigating whether Merah, blamed for 7 deaths, acted alone

Paris (CNN) -- The leader of an Islamist group whose members were targeted in a series of French police raids denies any contact with Toulouse gunman Mohammed Merah, lawyer Philippe Missamou said Saturday.

The leader of the Forsane Alizza group, Mohammed Achamlane, was among 19 people arrested Friday over alleged connections to radical Islam, Missamou said.

The raids came a week after Merah, who killed seven people in a series of attacks, was shot dead after a long siege in the southwestern city of Toulouse.

French media reports suggested Merah had developed connections with the pro-al Qaeda group, which has a cluster of followers in Toulouse.

Forsane Alizza was outlawed in January for encouraging French citizens to travel to Afghanistan to fight jihad.

Missamou told CNN he had last spoken to Achamlane on Monday.

At this time, Achamlane told him that the group had not had contact with Merah, and that it had nothing to do with Merah's killings in Toulouse, Missamou said.

Achamlane said the group did not support armed combat, the attorney said.

Missamou expects to be allowed to meet with members of the group, which he has represented since January, on Monday or Tuesday.

After that they will be put before a judge and either placed under further examination with charges pending, or released, he said.

Missamou disputed the Interior Ministry's claim that all 19 people arrested are members of Forsane Alizza, saying several were not.

Friday's arrests took place in Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes, Lyon and the Ile de France region, around Paris, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry's media office said "the police had plans to carry out 19 arrests, and therefore 19 arrests were made in connection with the group Forsane Alizza."

Interior Minister Claude Gueant said that several firearms, including five rifles, four automatic weapons and three Kalashnikovs, had been found in searches of the suspects' homes, as well as a bulletproof vest.

Missamou said he had no information on the claims that firearms were found.

He also said he did not know know whether members of the group have spent time in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The lawyer disputes the characterization of the group as dangerous, saying it works to contest perceived injustice on the part of the French state.

Its members claim that France does not recognize the multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious nature of the country, and passes laws which target Muslims in France, he said.

Police have been investigating whether Merah acted alone in planning his attacks.

He is blamed for the killings of three French paratroopers, a rabbi and three Jewish children ages 4, 5 and 7. Two other people were seriously wounded in the shootings.

Merah told police he had attended an al Qaeda training camp while visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

But his uncle, Jamal Azizi, denied statements by French authorities that Merah was an al Qaeda sympathizer and that he had traveled to Afghanistan or Pakistan to train to use arms.

Merah was buried Thursday at a cemetery outside Toulouse.

CNN's Anna Prichard contributed to this report.

ADVERTISEMENTupdated 9:12 AM EDT, Fri March 23, 2012 Did French intelligence services miss vital clues as Mohammed Merah showed signs of growing radicalization? updated 12:11 PM EDT, Thu March 22, 2012 The Toulouse shootings refocus fears on trained attackers who are determined, living legally in the West and operating alone.updated 7:38 AM EDT, Thu March 22, 2012 'Lone wolves' who plot to carry out small-scale attacks on soft targets could be the future of terrorism, a security expert warns.updated 10:32 AM EDT, Fri March 23, 2012 Mohammed Merah, described as a self-styled al Qaeda jihadist, was named as the chief suspect in a series of deadly shootings.updated 12:08 PM EDT, Thu March 22, 2012 CNN examines whether the handling of the crisis will have a bearing on the presidential poll.updated 6:30 PM EDT, Tue March 20, 2012 In the pink-hued streets of Toulouse, France's "Ville Rose," flags are flying at half-mast: The city is in mourning -- and shock. updated 12:08 AM EDT, Tue March 20, 2012 The city of Toulouse is at the highest security alert level, after a teacher and three children were gunned down at a Jewish school.updated 7:51 PM EDT, Mon March 19, 2012 Agnes Poirier, a political commentator, talks about the disbelief in France after the deadly drive-by shooting at a school in Toulouse.updated 6:06 AM EDT, Thu March 22, 2012 Out of nowhere a gunman appeared in the courtyard of a Jewish school in the French city just as students were arriving for morning classes.Most popular stories right nowADVERTISEMENT

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