Paris, April 30: A three-year-old was arrested as a suspected terrorist and held at a French police station for more than two hours, it emerged today.
The child is the son of an illegal immigrant from the Paris suburb of Juvisy.
Last Thursday the pair were arrested as they returned to their car after visiting a leisure centre.
Police officer claimed they were carrying out routine vehicle checks before arrested both father and son.
They were taken to Juvisy Police Station where, after 20 minutes, they were split up.
The father, who is from a North African background, was questioned about links to Islamic groups. Both he and Daniel were formally placed under investigation.
Daniel’s mother then arrived at the station and Daniel was finally released after two hours, but local social services said he was in a ‘severely traumatised state after his ordeal.’
Juvisy police station, in the Paris suburb of Juvisy, where Daniel and his father were held
Representatives of the RESF (Réseau Education Sans Frontières), a charity which campaigns for the rights of foreign children without official papers, visited the police station for an explanation but were told to leave.
They claimed that detectives had broken articles nine and 37 of the International Convention of Children’s Rights which stipulate that a child should not be separated from his parents, and that no child should be deprived of his liberty in an arbitrary manner.
A Juvisy police spokesman said: ‘This matter is being dealt with. We have no further comment to make.’
–Agencies