A new package of counter-terrorism measures which will be proposed by the British government tomorrow would outlaw those who provide or attend terrorist training courses in Britain or abroad and make it a criminal offense to describe those who carry out suicide bombings as "martyrs."
The centerpiece of a counter-terrorism bill will be the new crime of "acts preparatory to terrorism," which ministers said on Friday would make it easier for the police and security services to intervene when a terrorist operation was being planned. The package will be discussed in cross-party talks at Downing Street next week.
The details of the measures were outlined by Home Secretary Charles Clarke, in letters to the shadow home secretary, David Davis, and the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Mark Oaten, in the hope of securing a political consensus behind the package.
PHOTO: AP
Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said that work on the measures had begun before July 7. She hoped the existing timetable for new anti-terrorist legislation -- including the promised review of the government's controversial "control orders"on suspected terrorists -- would be met and that it would be on the statute book by next summer.
Clarke said the new offense of "acts preparatory to terrorism"would cover providing or receiving training in the use of hazardous substances and in other methods or techniques for terrorist purposes. "
"This covers training provided or received in the UK and abroad,"he said.
While the new offense will not be retrospective, it is designed to end the flow of British recruits to terrorist training camps and schools in Pakistan and Iraq.
Evidence that somebody was involved in terrorist training could include the discovery of bomb-making instructions, attempts to acquire certain chemicals and accessing terrorist-related Web sites.
The creation of the offense of indirect incitement to terrorism could prove the most troublesome for ministers. They have already been forced to modify the language of the offense from "glorifying or condoning" terrorism, because of fears that it would not stand up in court. Blears said that it was already an offense to incite someone directly to commit a violent or criminal act and they now wanted to widen it to indirect incitement to terrorism. She said prosecutions would not be limited to those authorized by the director of public prosecutions alone.
The government also intends to bring forward a battery of minor amendments to the security services' powers, including new rules on proscribing terrorist groups so that they cannot evade the ban by simply changing their names.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and