Kudos to France for revoking the ramp passes of four suspicious Muslim employees at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

A local government spokesman says the decision was based on an assessment of the terrorist risk.

He denied the move was linked to the men's religion.

Lawyers acting for the four men say that dozens of other Muslims who work at the airport have also been stripped of their security passes, leaving them unable to work.

The four men, who are of North African origin, say they were summoned by security officials for interviews concerning their employment in August.

A few days later they were told that their airport passes, which gave them access to the area near runways, were being withdrawn.

A lawyer acting for the men said the baggage handlers were told they had been barred because they had "not shown that their behaviour was unlikely to violate airport security".

As well as appealing against the local authority's decision, the baggage handlers' lawyers have submitted a criminal complaint for alleged discrimination against the men on the grounds that they are Muslims.

The head of a local government office, Jacques Lebrot, said the ban had nothing to do with religion.

"For us, someone who goes on holiday to Pakistan several times raises questions," he told Reuters News Agency.

They have made exactly the right move, whether the Muslims or the Politically Correct like it or not. There is no reason for North Africans to be visiting Pakistan "several times" - Algeria, sure, they would have tons of family there. But Pakistan? It raises supicions. Those ramp passes are precious commodities, and if the Lockerbie bombing is anything to go on, revoking them before a tragedy was the best way to proceed. Good for France!