By Elizabeth Bryant
PARIS, France (UPI) -- In the latest signal of a tougher European response to terrorism after the London bombings, the French government is expected to modify its penal code against certain terrorist accomplices.
The proposed changes, reported Tuesday in France`s center-right Le Figaro newspaper, would lengthen the maximum prison sentence for those found guilty of helping suicide bombers from 10 to 15 years in prison.
"In the case of a suicide strike, the authors obviously can`t be judged," one magistrate told the newspaper. "The law allows a more severe punishment against those who directed or organized (an attack)," though he acknowledged the ringleaders might be hard to find.
The proposed changes are only the latest anti-terrorism measures floated by France and other European countries following the July 7 bomb attacks and failed July 21 strikes in London.
Last weekend, France and Britain announced an agreement to strengthen cooperation on air surveillance following a meeting between their two defense chiefs. And a string of other European Union countries have also stepped up security measures in recent weeks to help prevent future attacks by extremists.
Counter-terrorism experts suggest such countries as Italy, Denmark and Poland, with troops still in Iraq, may be prime targets for Islamist terrorism. But France, home to an estimated 6 million Muslims, is also vulnerable.
French forces may not be in Iraq, but they work closely in Afghanistan with their U.S. counterparts to route out al-Qaida and other extremists.
Islamist radicals have also threatened to retaliate against a French ban, which went into effect last year, against the wearing of Islamic head scarves and other religious accessories in public schools.
Last week, Paris imam Reda Ameuroud became the latest radical preacher to be kicked out of the country by the French government. A native Algerian, he was accused of trying to enroll young Muslims as prospective jihadis, near a mosque in northern Paris. The imam, who has been shipped back to Algeria, was also suspected of having ties with Farid Benyettou, another Paris imam suspected of trying to coax youths to join the Iraqi insurgency.
In an interview published by France`s Le Parisian newspaper Friday, French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy said another 10 people perpetrating "a radical Islamist discourse" would also be shipped back to their home country by the end of August. Sarkozy previously announced France would begin systematically extraditing imams "who do not respect our values."
And last Wednesday, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said draft legislation would be introduced this fall aimed at improving video surveillance of suspected radicals, along with improving other ways to track suspects via telephone and identity papers.
Such methods are being proposed elsewhere in Europe.
Germany`s parliament, for example, has called for increased surveillance of airports, train stations and underground networks. And the country`s interior minister wants to give more power to the federal police.
Spain has also stepped up its security, including in the Galician pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela -- where the bones of St. James "the Moor slayer" are said to lie.
And the Swedish government is expected to introduce legislation this year to facilitate calling on the military in case of a terrorist attack.
But such measures have limited effectiveness, some terrorism experts say. What`s lacking, they say, is a common European Union terrorism policy that includes European arrest warrants, biometric passports and other regionwide regulations that are accepted by all EU members.
Moreover, there are few threats that can dissuade the new European fear: would-be suicide bombers.
"It`s extraordinarily difficult to operate in an efficient manner -- in terms of dissuasion, prevention, of maneuvering -- against an individual who has decided to blow himself up," Francois Heisbourg, president of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told Le Figaro in a recent interview.
And efforts to crack down on Muslim extremists may actually backfire, he suggested.
"To stigmatize Europe`s Muslim population, to apply vexing measures...may run the risk of alienating this population and, maybe, encouraging conversions," Heisbourg said.
Already, many young men living in Europe have converted to radical Islam. Among them is Richard Reid, sentenced to life in prison in 2003 for trying to blow up a U.S. airliner, along with one of the suspects in London`s July 7 attacks.
Several French men have also converted to Islam, including Herve Djamel Loiseau, who was found dead two years ago in the mountains of Tora Bora, Afghanistan. He was among European Islamists who allegedly enrolled in al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan, and joined the insurgency movement there.
