I have a French friend whose little brother was unjustly (she testifies, in tears) accused of rape by a fellow teenager. As she describes it, there's plenty of evidence he wasn't able to do any such thing. Yet currently he sits in jail, being raped repeatedly, enduring the two year wait before his trial may begin.

He may be found innocent, yet have received two years of cruel and unusual punishment, and been given a death sentence by AIDs.

I realized then that French had things worse than we did. I was grateful to live here, where it wouldn't take two years to get a trial, and where suspects are allowed to be released on bail.

Now an article in the Washington Post seems to confirm that France has fewer civil rights than the US, and that the French authorties are able to do many things which would be completely illegal here:

* Four people released from Gauntanmo were returned to France in July, where they "haven't been heard from since."

Under French law, they could remain locked up for as long as three years while authorities decide whether to put them on trial -- a legal limbo that their attorneys charge is not much different than what they faced at Guantanamo.

Yes, but with a crucial difference: Our dentention of these people is based on the fact they met us on the battlefield, as enemy combatants dressed in civilian clothing. Under the Geneva Conventions, we could have executed them, much less held them for several years. France is not in the same situation.

* The French people are not even complaining.

France has experienced scant public dissent over tactics that would be controversial, if not illegal, in the United States and some other countries.

Though I'm sure they complain frequently about that cruel dictator, Bush, in someone else's country.

* Unlike in the US, the government may tell children they cannot wear religion-related items, such as a headscarf.

* France uses extensive ethnic profiling.

* Religious profiling, too: Muslims are being targeted for surveilance.

* France regularly violates national soverignty, taking on cases and prosecuting people of other nationalities over which is does not have jurisdiction. In one case, they arrested a Tunisan man:

Seventeen months later Ganczarski remains in a French jail, under investigation for alleged conspiracy in the Tunisian attack. French investigators have claimed jurisdiction in the case because French nationals were among the casualties in the Tunisia attack.

This would be like the US arresting and trying a Saudi citizen because we think he might have been involved in a bombing in Saudi Arabia which killed or injured one of our citizens.

* People can be arrested and put away on these grounds:

Over the past decade, Bruguiere has ordered the arrests of more than 500 people on suspicion of "conspiracy in relation to terrorism," a broad charge that gives him leeway to lock up suspects while he carries out investigations.... Bruguiere estimated that 90 percent of the defendants he has indicted and brought to trial have been convicted.

Sounds like he's judge, prosecutor, and jury all in one.

* The government apparently has no public accountability:

Official statistics on French terrorism prosecutions are not readily available, so it is difficult to assess the outcome of such cases.

* They're rolling back previous laws intended to protect civil liberties:

Tubiana cited a new law enacted last year that drops a requirement for French anti-terror police to have an eyewitness when carrying out a search warrant. The requirement had been intended to prevent the planting of fake evidence.

"There has been a definite erosion of civil liberties in France, and not just with terrorism," Tubiana said. "We're seeing things that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago."

Well, now that things are worse in France in the US, will Amnesty International organize a letter-writing campaign to Chiraq and his government to protest these abuses? Even thought they know things like this are happening there, it doesn't seem to be one of their hot topics.

And what of the glitterati who idolize France and make their annual pilgrimage to Cannes? Will they now start talking about how they hate to be in a police state like France, which is how they refer to the US when visiting abroad?

Sometimes it seems the outrage on the left is rather, shall we say, selective.

Thanks, Instapundit.