A terrible terror law
The draft European Union anti-terror laws have wide ranging implications for both civil liberties and fundamentally changes the basis of previous legal practice, according to Thomas Mathiesen, a renowned Professor of Sociology of Law at Oslo University in Norway. Professor Mathiesen believes that the European Union's proposed anti-terror legislation was an inadequate and ill- thought-out response to what he described as terrible terrorist attacks in the United States.
Definition of terrorism
The new European anti-terror legislation proposals have raised concern among legal minds in the way it defines or fails to define what constitutes terrorism.
Mr Mathiesen describes the new rules as "expanding the concept of terrorism to include a wide range of activities, even activities generally associated with the right to protest and civil disobedience".
Mr Mathisen even goes as far as to question whether there is a need for specific anti-terrorism legislation. He says: "A person, or persons, who fly a plane into a building have committed a crime. Do we really, in legal terms, need a distinction between whether they are terrorist or criminals?"
Civil disobedience
According to the proposed legislation, any individual who targets a state institution or representatives of the state might commit an act of terrorism. "The new legislation can have a serious impact on demonstrations such as the ones organised by anti-globalisation movements in both Gothenburg and Genoa," says Mr Mathiesen. He believes that the new legislation is likely to come into use against demonstrators expected at future international summits, such as the European summit in Laeken in Belgium in December.
Even on a national level, the impact on civil disobedience is likely to be that government, if they wish so, might classify road protestors and environmental protesters as terrorists. "Citizens to resort to civil disobedience to prevent the building of a road, or the opening of an electrical dam are potentially classified as terrorist," says Mr Mathiesen.
Backdoor death penalty
The extradition procedures adopted by the extraordinary meeting of heads of state and ministers of justice and home affairs last week has also led to numerous voices of concern that the death penalty, which is not in use in any of the 15 European Union member states, may creep in through the backdoor. Mr Mathiesen said: "My initial reading of the documents has given rise to concern that there is an increased possibility of European citizens being extradited to the United States, where the death penalty is in use."
Three elements of EU anti-terror legislation
The European Union anti-terror legislation consists of three elements:
Commission proposal presented on 19 September of a European arrest warrant, which oblige EU member states to recognise requests for the surrender of a person made by the judicial authority of another member state.
Commission proposal put forward on 19 September to introduce a common EU-wide definition of terrorism and set common penal sanctions ranging from no less than two years for extortion, theft, robbery or threatening to carry out terrorism to a maximum of no less than 20 years for murder.
The conclusions from the extraordinary European Council meeting on 21 September in Brussels, urging ministers of justice and home affairs to draw up a common list of presumed terrorist organisations.
Written by Peter Karlsen Edited by Blake Evans-Pritchard