まゆの部屋

Govt looks to draw up antiterror bill
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government plans to form an expert committee from the cabinet secretariat and relevant ministries and agencies to study the details of an antiterrorism law it hopes to submit to the Diet in 2007, government sources said Friday.

The committee is expected to decide to restrict the activities of foreign members of international organizations recognized by the government as terrorist groups and their Japanese supporters.

It will also consider limiting the collection of items that could be used for terrorist activities and either ban or restrict meetings, and hopes to decide on the bill's framework within the year.

The government is working toward establishing a legal framework based on an action plan designed to prevent terrorism that was drawn up in December 2004 following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

It plans to submit a bill to revise the Immigration Control Law to prevent the entry of foreign terrorist suspects and introduce measures to deport them in the ordinary Diet session scheduled to convene Jan. 20.

The bill on antiterrorism measures covers problems that cannot be dealt with by existing laws.

The United States and Britain have emergency laws that allow suspects to be temporarily detained without arrest or investigation warrants. The government plans to introduce a similar system in Japan.

The team will carefully study whether any of the restrictions would conflict with the right to freedom of assembly guaranteed under the Constitution.

The bill is expected to include measures to enforce information gathering and analysis activities originally designed by the government to detect international terrorist organizations and their domestic supporters. It might also include measures to improve coordination between central and local governments.

The authority of a joint information committee, comprised of bureau chiefs of ministries and agencies such as the Justice Ministry and Public Security Investigation Agency, and the police, is likely to be upgraded to improve information gathering activities. Regular working-level talks may also be held.

If local governments receive a report of a possible terrorist attack, the law may obligate them to report it to the central government, and to clearly specify what public cooperation is needed to prevent terrorism.

Leaders of the major industrialized nations declared their intent to strive for an early signing of an agreement on comprehensive antiterrorism measures during the Gleneagles summit in July, immediately after the terrorist bombings in London.

European countries and the United States have already begun working on comprehensive antiterrorism legal frameworks.

(Jan. 7, 2006)