Terrorism laws would breach Human Rights Act, say MPs

London Telegraph/Philip Johnston | December 6 2005

Plans to outlaw the "glorification" of terrorist acts will have to be watered down if they are not to fall foul of human rights laws, a parliamentary committee said yesterday.

As the Terrorism Bill began its remaining stages in the Lords, a committee of MPs and peers said the legislation as it stood would be in breach of the Human Rights Act.

The committee accepted, on balance, that there was a case for a new criminal offence of indirect incitement to terrorist acts. However, it said the Bill was too vague, the definition of terrorism too wide and intent was not required for the law to be broken.

The committee said it would be necessary to delete the references to glorification and insert a more tightly drawn definition of terrorism to make the legislation compatible with human rights law.

It also recommended that a "reasonable excuse" or "public interest" defence to the new offence of training for terrorism be included.

"Criminalising mere attendance at a place used for terrorist training appears to be disproportionate," the committee said.

Ministers tabled an amendment to the Bill to protect the innocent exchange of information after concerns that librarians and academics who unwittingly help terrorists could be prosecuted.

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