Anti-terror laws criticised by human rights body
The Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill, passed in the Dáil last week, introduces:
* New definitions of terrorist offences, including the financing of terrorism.
* Garda powers requesting service providers to retain communication data for three years.
* Establishes a second non-jury Special Criminal Court.
* Speeds up the European Arrest Warrant, by shifting rights away from the accused
“We made very serious and sustained intervention on this legislation and one of the things we regret is that the minister has obviously not taken our recommendations on board,” said Fionnuala Ní Áolan of the Human Rights Commission.
The legislation, published by Justice Minister Michael McDowell, implements a 2002 EU Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism.
Under the bill a terrorist activity is one committed with the intention of:
* Seriously intimidating a population.
* Unduly compelling a government or an international organisation to perform or abstain from performing an act
* Seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a state or international organisation.
“There are massive concerns that the definitions are overly inclusive,” said Ms Ní Áolan. She said the vagueness of the language suggested mass public protests - such as the Stop Bush rally last year - could be targeted by this legislation.
“The nature of democracy is that you should be able to accommodate serious and sustained dissent, which may include protest which seeks to change government by pressure, but using the term terrorist to label those acts is inappropriate.” Labour Party justice spokesman Joe Costello said the bill deemed a multitude of offences as terrorist, including manslaughter, assault causing harm, endangering traffic and malicious damage.
He said that while the legislation stated protests and strikes were not sufficient by themselves to be inferred as terrorist activity, it didn’t mean they could not be so inferred. Mr Costello also questioned the need for a second Special Criminal Court.
He criticised the lack of safeguards surrounding garda access to communication data and the role of the service providers.
“The overall context of the Terrorist Bill, and the Criminal Justice Bill, is that quite a big brother element is coming into criminal law,” he said.
Mr McDowell said the bill enabled Ireland to meet its international obligations and enhanced our capacity to address international terrorism, including financing of terrorism. The system for accessing communication data would be monitored by a High Court judge and a complaints referee.
President Mary McAleese is due to sign the bill into law in the coming week.
