Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Murray" <seamus2001 at home.com> To: "Lbo-Talk at Lists. Panix. Com" <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 10:23 PM Subject: Gee, how surprising......
> < http://www.euobserver.com >
> 24.09.2001
>
> 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
>
>