The French Senate on Thursday adopted a different version of a constitutional amendment [press release, in French] that would deprive French citizenship or rights attached to it from dual nationals convicted of terrorism, essentially blocking the measure. For the amendment to pass, the National Assembly and the Senate must agree [WP report] on the “same text of the legislation and … both chambers of Parliament [must] approve it by a three-fifths majority.” The procedure must start over or be abandoned because the Senate approved a different version [changes, in French] than the one that the National Assembly approved last month, namely, that the defendant hold another nationality in addition to French citizenship to avoid statelessness. The vote [Le Monde report, in French] was 186-150 with 8 abstentions to adopt the article that the deprivation of nationality be reserved for only binational defendants.

Earlier this month, JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Sandra Mantu of Radboud University, discussed [JURIST op-ed] the Constitutional law to Protect the Nation in which a person could be deprived of French nationality or of the rights attached to it if her or she has been condemned for a crime or offense that constitutes a serious violation of the nation’s life. The proposed amendments [JURIST report] were a response to the terrorist attacks on Paris in November, which left nearly 130 dead. Organized in three teams, terrorists reportedly connected to the Islamic State (IS) [JURIST backgrounder] perpetrated attacks on six different targets in and around Paris. A UN rights expert commented that the attacks may amount to crimes against humanity [JURIST report].