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October 6, 2005

UK: Charles Clarke Dilutes Terror Laws

Charles Clarke, Britain's Home Secretary, has decided to soften one of the key proposals in his package of anti-terror laws. The offence of "praising terrorist attacks", only announced three weeks ago, will still remain on the statute books, but now it will require some proof that whoever was praising a terrorist action was deliberately intending to incite further terrorist actions.

Originally, as described in the Guardian, on Sept 16. the proposed law was described thus:

The government's proposed anti-terrorism laws published yesterday are so widely drawn that anyone who "glorifies, exalts or celebrates" any terrorist act committed over the past 20 years could face a sentence of up to five years in prison.

But the small print of the draft terrorism bill published yesterday shows that the home secretary is preparing to go even further and draw up a list of historical terrorist acts which if "glorified" could mean a criminal offence being committed.

This last part has been widely criticised, and according to the Times this list of events has now been dropped because it has been mooted that it would set off a debate involving the theme of "one person's freedom fighter being another's terrorist.

However, another of the rafts of his original proposals, the plan which states one "Cannot foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK" has been outlined more clearly. According to the Times:

Mosque committees could be fined or jailed under powers proposed yesterday to allow police temporarily to close places of worship used by extremists.

There would be a two step approach to tackling trustees of a venue or a place of worship where "hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK" was being fostered. Firstly the police would have to obtain a criminal order requesting them to prevent any extremist behaviour. Secondly if such behaviour continued, they they would be guilty of a criminal offence, which could merit the punishment of a fine or jail term. How much the fine, or how long the sentence, has not been clarified. The Times added that police could apply to the court for a "restriction of use" order that could temporarily close all or part of the premises.

It seems that he is going softer in his approach to appease Muslims, whose personal prejudices should be an irrelevance when faced with the likelihood of a repeat of 7/7. By this flaccid approach, he seems unable or unwilling to come down hard on those who seek to undermine the basic values of our society.

Mr Clarke will be presenting his final Terrorism Bill next week.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 6, 2005 8:54 PM

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