Emergency terror measures become law in France The controversial law allows authorities to shut down mosques, carry out on-the-spot identity checks and expand border controls.

Image: A police officer stands guard near Notre Dame in central Paris

French MPs have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a new counter-terrorism bill, despite criticism that it undermines civil liberties.

Several of the measures put in place under the state of emergency declared after the 2015 Paris attacks will now be made permanent.

The bill will become law before the start of November when the state of emergency will finally end.

Under the law, authorities are allowed to shut down mosques or other places of worship if preachers are suspected of spreading radical ideas and theories.

Suspected jihadist sympathisers can also be confined to their neighbourhoods without the approval of a judge.


Police can also carry out more on-the-spot identity checks and expand border controls to areas around international train stations, ports and airports.

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Image: French soldiers outside a train station in Paris

The bill was approved by 415 votes to 127 on its first reading in the lower house of the French parliament, having already been passed by the upper house in July.

France has passed several laws aimed at tackling terror since 2012, some of which have attracted criticism.

"The concentration of powers in the hands of the executive and weakening of judicial oversight is not a new characteristic of France's counter-terrorism efforts," said Benedicte Jeannerod, France director for Human Rights Watch.

"But the normalisation of emergency powers crosses a new line."

Objections to the bill were also raised by UN experts in a letter sent to the French government last week.

But interior minister Gerard Collomb told parliament that France was still in a "state of war" - and the terror threat level remained "very serious".

In France, 241 people have been killed in terror attacks since January 2015 - with 130 of those deaths occurring during the Paris attacks in November 2015.

A state of emergency was declared after those attacks, and was subsequently extended several times to protect major sporting events and this year's elections.

The government says it has helped prevent 12 planned attacks this year alone.