Anti-terrorism Legislation Research Articles

Selling internet control: the framing of the Russian ban of messaging app Telegram

ABSTRACT How are extensive internet control, surveillance and restricted online anonymity reconceptualized into virtues of effective state governance, rather than violations of civic rights? The Russian government has instrumentalized ostensibly sound legitimations – countering terrorist and extremist propaganda, combatting child pornography – to bring about a dramatic decline in internet freedom. While these policies have been widely studied, scholarship examining how the Russian government legitimates and cultivates popular support for restricting online freedoms remains scarce. This article therefore studies how restrictions of internet freedom are framed in political and media discourses. It focuses on the case of Telegram, a popular messaging application that was banned in Russia in April 2018 for its refusal to provide the FSB with access to encrypted messages in compliance with anti-terrorism legislation. It finds that media framing of the ban was more diverse than the official governmental line. While national security framing was important, the ‘rule of law’ frame occurred most frequently, and conspiracy framing was markedly infrequent.

A Study in Anxiety of the Dark

A Study in Anxiety of the Dark

Anti Terrorism Legal Framework in Pakistan and Challenges before the Criminal Justice System


 
 Terrorism is a global problem and it is becoming more complicated over the years. Most countries including Pakistan are adopting new measures to combat terrorism. However, the existing legal regime in Pakistan has several weaknesses and the government faces new challenges in fighting terrorism. This paper examines the anti-terrorism legislation of Pakistan by arguing that it has become unsuccessful to curb the threat of terrorism by fetching the terrorists to justice. This paper also provides analysis of the development of anti-terrorism laws in Pakistan after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US (9/11 attacks) through a broad history of progression as per the varying nature of the hazards faced by the State. Several governments made various legal mechanisms to cope with the criminalities those could not be sought under the ordinary judicial system of the State. Being the primary anti-terrorism legislation, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 is used to handle the menace of sectarian violence in the State. Due to the 9/11 attack, throughout varying character of the danger caused by the Al-Qaeda or Taliban connected local terrorist Jihadi as well as sectarian organizations, Pakistan needs to amend not just the anti-terrorism procedure, but also required to introduce new related regulations to make the law more effective to aid speedy trials of the involved terrorists. This paper reviews critically the existing anti-terrorism laws, investigation techniques and trial processes adopted in Pakistan and identifies weaknesses and challenges in ensuring the effective implementation of the laws
 
 
 
 

Regulatory fundamentals of the fight against terrorism in Ukraine

An important element of ensuring national security in Ukraine is the legal consolidation of practical and real principles in national legislation. One of the main reasons for the low quality of the fight against terrorism is the imperfection of legal acts and the inconsistency of the level of preparation for real threats. Normative acts require detailed study, analysis and substantiation in view of international law and evolution, due to which, changes are made more than once. The growing number of terrorism in the world, gives impetus to international cooperation to combat the most dangerous crime. Research is important to address the challenges of preventing terrorism.To improve the legislation, it is necessary to take into account the degree of ability to anticipate threats and assess risks, to ensure the continuity of the process of activity of bodies and the process of recovery. Improving Ukrainian legislation requires modernizing Cain's anti-terrorism legislation on countering and preventing terrorism.The article analyzes the legal framework for combating terrorism, identifies the relevance of the problem of combating terrorism, the range of regulations, considers the views of scientists on the system of their division by type, proposed its own system of regulations in the table.Specifically, some important legal acts on measures to combat terrorism are analyzed. The international legal documents establishing the general principles of international cooperation in the field of prevention and counteraction to terrorism are studied.The priorities of the state policy in the field of counter-terrorism, the principles of counter-terrorism enshrined in regulations are considered, and some proposals for improving the regulatory framework in the fight against terrorism in Ukraine are identified.

ПРАВОВЫЕ ОСНОВЫ БОРЬБЫ С ТЕРРОРИЗМОМ В ЕВРОПЕЙСКОМ СОЮЗЕ

In recent years, European states have been repeatedly subjected to deadly terrorist attacks. The threat faced by EU Member States is multifaceted: from the return of foreign terrorist fighters from conflict zones to the extremist activities of homegrown terrorists and «lone wolves». In order to prevent terrorist attacks and combat terrorism, EU authorities and national states develop counter-terrorism policies and legislation. Based on the long-term activities of the UN in this area and on its own experience, the European Union adopts a large number of political and regulatory legal documents. The EU’s anti-terrorism policy and legislation are becoming more effective and realistic year after year, and intergovernmental cooperation mechanisms are being developed in the form of international treaties or politically binding recommendations and guidelines. In recent years, a number of new legal and other standards have been developed, which, together with existing international and regional strategies, conventions, recommendations and agreements, form the basis for current and future work in the field of combating terrorism and preventing radicalization and extremism leading to terrorism. The article examines some key documents of the EU and the Council of Europe adopted after September 11, 2001, including the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy of 2005, updated in 2016, as well as new directions and measures to combat terrorism in the last three years (2018-2020). Based on the legal databases of the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe, a quantitative sample and an approximate count of anti-terrorist and related regulatory legal and individual acts adopted in 2018-2020 were made. The proposals of scientists and experts, including those expressed at the forums of international organizations, on improving the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy are summarized.

What Drives Diffusion? Anti-Terrorism Legislation in the Arab Middle East and North Africa

AbstractSince 9/11 most Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa have introduced anti-terror laws. Are they part of the global-diffusion processes that have spread anti-terrorism legislation worldwide? This paper studies the drivers of anti-terrorism legislation in these Arab states, contributing to the emerging research on authoritarian diffusion. The analysis demonstrates that regional and domestic explanations, rather than diffusion from the international level, are key. This is evident from the chronological order in which anti-terror legislation has appeared, the regionally inspired definitions of terrorism, and the immediate drivers behind such laws.The past few decades have seen two temporal clusters of new anti-terrorism legislation in the Arab world. In the first decade of the new millennium, mainly domestic terror attacks drove the adoption of anti-terror laws. Meanwhile, regional efforts to comply with international counterterrorism efforts after the 9/11 attacks played a subordinate role. In a second wave following the Arab uprisings of 2011, anti-terror legislation was driven increasingly by authoritarian governments’ desire to penalize dissent, as they sought to inhibit the spread of protests on the regional level.A systematic overview of the terrorism definitions contained in the new laws offers evidence for policy convergence. Instead of adhering to internationally recognized understandings of terrorism, the definitions in Arab legislation follow regional examples. The vague definitions of terrorism featured in the new laws allow for repressive measures being taken against challengers of authoritarian rule.

Digitisation, securitisation, and upbringing: interrelations and emerging questions

ABSTRACT In recent years a tightening of safeguarding legislation and protocols that overlap with anti-terror legislation have given particular shape to discourses and practices of risk management and early intervention, particularly in early childhood education and parenting. Such developments have taken place in a context in which digital technology has become ubiquitous, enabling the role of surveillance in modes of governing to take on new forms. Here as well as giving an overview of literature on the digital in general, we also focus more specifically on the parent-child relationship and the use of digital technology by parents. We then survey recent theorisations of securitisation from other fields, but again focus specifically on its relation to childhood and parenting. We bring digitisation and securitisation together here to consider how the particular form of individualisation produced today is recasting how we think about parents, teachers and children.

A Brief History of the Brief History of Citizenship Revocation in Canada

In 2014, the Conservative government of Canada passed legislation to permit revocation of Canadian citizenship on national security grounds. On the eve of the 2015 federal election campaign, the Conservatives test-drove the new law by issuing notices of intent to revoke citizenship to several men convicted of ‘national security’ offences . Four were members of the Toronto 18, a group of young men charged with various offences under Canada's anti-terrorism legislation. Predictably, citizenship revocation became a prominent wedge issue in the campaign, along with other Islamophobic policy initiatives, including denial of citizenship to niqab-wearing women and a 'barbaric cultural practices' snitch line.The constitutional challenges to the revocation orders were adjourned shortly after the election of a Liberal government, in order to give the new government time to fulfill its campaign promise to repeal the citizenship revocation law. The life span of the citizenship revocation law was exactly three years. In this chapter, I situate the politics of the four men’s citizenship revocation in legal and comparative context. I argue that the citizenship revocation scheme enacted in Canada resonated primarily in the register of symbolic politics, and lacked virtually any instrumental value, as measured in the ability of the state to physically rid itself of an undesirable citizen. I track the influence of UK precedent in the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration's imputation of citizenship to a man born in Canada to naturalized Canadian parents. Controversy over states' refusal to repatriate their 'foreign fighter' citizens from abroad has shifted the debate on citizenship revocation. The UK decision to strip British citizenship from UK/Canadian national Jack Letts brings to the fore not only the human rights dimension, but also the implications of citizenship stripping on international relations.

Theoretical Approaches of the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (the Venice Commission) to the Assessment of Anti-Terrorism Legislation: international Legal Discourse and Implementation Problems

The topic of the article is highly relevant due to the importance of basing the legislative regulation of counter-terrorism activities on international treaties in this sphere. Besides, the legislative regulation of counteracting terrorism should be developed in accordance with the current international law acts and should take into account international obligations that they entail. The authors believe that the improvement of counter-terrorism legislation is facilitated by the work of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), which conducts an expert evaluation of the national legislations of member states. The goal of this research is to analyze the current international law regulation in the sphere of counteracting terrorism and in identifying the specifics of its application by the Venice Commission in its assessment of national counter-terrorism legislations. The authors examine some issues connected with the work of the Venice Commission on preparing conclusions and recommendations that contain its assessment of the counter-terrorism legislation of a number of countries (the Republic of Moldova, the French Republic). They note the specifics of the work of the Venice Commission as a special auxiliary body of the Council of Europe that analyzes and assesses the legislative acts of member states based on the poly-functional guidelines of the Council of Europe. While assessing national legislations, the Venice Commission uses international law acts that contain, among other things, universally recognized principles and norms of international law, so the authors of the article show the significance of the international law regulation of counteracting terrorism through international treaties both between different countries and under the aegis of international organizations and integration unions; they also identify the problems connected with their implementation in national legislations. Based on the conducted research, the authors come to the following conclusions: the legislative regulation of counteracting terrorism should be amended with strict observance of the universally recognized principles and norms of international law incorporated, among other things, in international treaties; it is necessary to develop the international law regulation in the sphere of counteracting terrorism while taking into account new challenges and threats brought about by globalization and use the potential of international law instruments; international bodies play an important part in improving national counter-terrorism legislations, specifically, the Venice Commission, which, through its expert work, contributes to the development of legislation based on international legal acts.

The Constitutionality of §89a IIa of the German Criminal Code and the Concept of a Serious Violent Offense Endangering the State: The German Federal Court of Justice Decision of April 6, 2017—3 StR 326/16

AbstractThis Article discusses the constitutionality of the recently implemented § 89a IIa of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch—StGB) on the basis of the case 3 StR 326/16 decided by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on April 6, 2017. First, this Article introduces § 89a IIa of the StGB with a short summary of the events leading to the present anti-terrorist legislation in Germany and the development of the legislation over the past few decades. Second, the facts of the BGH’s case will be outlined, and an overview of the systematic structure of § 89a I, II No. 1, IIa StGB will be provided. Within this framework, the constitutionality of § 89a IIa StGB will be discussed, focusing on the prerequisite of appropriateness, with special attention paid to the requirement of reasonability and the prerequisite of legal certainty pursuant to Article 103(II) Basic Law (Grundgesetz—GG). Finally, § 89a I, II No. 1, IIa StGB will be applied to the BGH’s case after discussing the contentious legal issues regarding these doctrines. This Article concludes by discussing the BGH’s decision, which deems § 89a IIa StGB to be constitutional.

Финансирование терроризма: новые вызовы для международной безопасности1

Despite efforts by the international community to curb international terrorism, it remains one of the main threats to international security. A main reason for this is that international terrorism has significant financial inflows and their routes transform faster than the international countermeasures designed to stop them. The aim of this article is to identify existing and potential financial channels. The authors analyze antiterrorist legislation to define the theoretical and legal framework for this research and draw on empirical content from the reports of international organizations, the Group of 20 (G20), the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, and others. This article shows that the main sources of terrorism financing include taxes paid by foreign enterprises functioning in the occupied lands, taxes paid by local populations, profits from resource and goods trade, captured treasures trade, payments from non-governmental organizations, and financial fraud. The authors discuss the role of cryptocurrencies in international terrorism financing and note that while foreign experts deny the possibility and feasibility of their usage, Russians take an opposite view. The authors conclude that the Russian arguments should be heard and carefully considered by the international community. The Russian Federation has significant experience fighting terrorism. For this reason, the authors recommend that the G20 and other international organizations pay more attention to this issue and work out international standards to counter the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorists

Indigenous environmental defenders and the legacy of Macli-ing Dulag: Anti-dam dissent, assassinations, and protests in the making of Philippine energyscape

Globally, Indigenous Peoples’ dissent against unjust state and corporate incursions in their lands is being suppressed. States and corporations use penal laws, anti-terrorist legislation, and emergency powers to justify the detention of activists, who are subject to intimidation, human rights violations, or, at worst, extrajudicial killings. In 2019, the Philippines was named the most murderous country for environmental defenders; yet the literature about Indigenous Peoples’ dissent in the country, where militarization of ancestral domains has been a continuing state project, remains scant—in contrast to extensive academic attention in other places particularly in the Americas. This paper asks how, when and where Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ dissent started to expand—what narratives of mobilizations did history produce, and how do these narratives travel across space-time. Using multi-methods research and focusing on the Philippine Cordillera, where mega-hydropower projects have been extensively proposed as a key mode for energy transition, yet are widely opposed by uncolonized peoples, this paper describes how Macli-ing Dulag's assassination, the Ifugao cultural performances, and networked mobilization during the second half of 1970s up to the early 1980s are becoming relevant in present-day dissent against large-hydro projects.

Theoretical problems of legal definition of transport safety and adjacent categories

 This article carries out an in-depth scientific analysis of such legal concepts as “transport safety” and “safety of the transport system”, as well as sectoral concepts by type of transport “road-traffic safety”, “navigational safety” and “aviation safety”. The indicated types of safety are viewed based on such criteria and an object of protection, source of threat, as well as cross-system ties with other types of safety. The research demonstrates the vast differences between the objects of protection and sources of threats in these concepts. The methodology of this work consists in the method of formal logics, which allowed determining logical contradictions in the conceptual-categorical apparatus of transport safety, as well as systemic method for conducting systemic analysis of these types of safeties. The author makes a conclusion that the Federal Law “On Transport Safety” underlies anti-terrorism legislation, and is aimed only at combating acts of illegal intrusion into functionality of the transport system. Therefore, the legal definition of transport safety is also severely narrowed and includes one aspect from the multifaceted transport safety.

Scientific and Legal Aspect for Conducting of Operational Measures to Counter Threats of Terrorist Acts upon Their Commission as a Challenge to the Social Community

Terrorist threat act may lie not only in potential civilian casualties, but also in the investigation of acts that could in the long run lead to the implementation of terrorist intentions. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the possibility of preventing a terrorist act should be in the interdepartmental jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies not only as a task of emergency response, but also as a task of direct monitoring. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that the authors consider the aspect of the formation of countermeasures against a terrorist act on the basis of liquidating the foundation of its social response. The very process of preventing a terrorist act predominantly affects only measures to destroy terrorists and reduce the number of potential victims. The paper demonstrates that in addition to this postulate, it is worth considering the need for an additional reduction in social resonance, which acts as an incentive. Formation of counteraction by law enforcement agencies allows to reduce the significance of the terrorist impact on society. The practical significance of the study is determined by the fact that each of the participants in countering the terrorist act is also capable of operative activities, which can also additionally level the structure for implementing the provisions of anti-terrorism legislation.

Исследовательский вклад Ш. Ногмова и Хан-Гирея в изучение этнографии адыгов

The study explores the recent history of state-religious relations in Russia, which began in the late 1980s. The author assesses the impact of globalization on the religious life of the region, highlights periods of transformation of characterized process. The period from the late 1980s to 1997 is characterized by powerful integration processes in the post-Soviet space. The Russian Far East is becoming a clash of foreign policy interests of neighboring states, a place where foreign missionaries flock, whose activities are aimed both at helping existing religious associations, and at disseminating new teachings that are not traditional for the region. Since 1997, after the adoption of the federal law On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations, a new period begins, which is based on disintegration processes. Communities that belonged to new religions and were created by foreigners with enormous finances, but did not have ethnic and cultural grounds in the region, could not stand the test of time and lost influence on the local society. Protestant organizations traditional for the region took shape organizationally, acquired a stable status of a partner of the state in the sociocultural space of the Far East and Russia as a whole. Most Far Eastern Protestant denominations during this period began independent missionary programs in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The adoption in 2016 of anti-terrorism legislation, known as the Yarovaya package, intensified disintegration trends in the field of international contacts of Far Eastern faiths. The processes of globalization were limited to the post-Soviet space and neighboring countries. Against the backdrop of a constant threat from the state, Protestant denominations reduced their activity in the social space of the region. During this period, the formation of the Islamic component in the religious life of the Far East was completed.

Влияние процессов глобализации на изменение конфессионального ландшафта российского Дальнего Востока в период с 1980-х до 2019 г.

The study explores the recent history of state-religious relations in Russia, which began in the late 1980s. The author assesses the impact of globalization on the religious life of the region, highlights periods of transformation of characterized process. The period from the late 1980s to 1997 is characterized by powerful integration processes in the post-Soviet space. The Russian Far East is becoming a clash of foreign policy interests of neighboring states, a place where foreign missionaries flock, whose activities are aimed both at helping existing religious associations, and at disseminating new teachings that are not traditional for the region. Since 1997, after the adoption of the federal law On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations, a new period begins, which is based on disintegration processes. Communities that belonged to new religions and were created by foreigners with enormous finances, but did not have ethnic and cultural grounds in the region, could not stand the test of time and lost influence on the local society. Protestant organizations traditional for the region took shape organizationally, acquired a stable status of a partner of the state in the sociocultural space of the Far East and Russia as a whole. Most Far Eastern Protestant denominations during this period began independent missionary programs in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The adoption in 2016 of anti-terrorism legislation, known as the Yarovaya package, intensified disintegration trends in the field of international contacts of Far Eastern faiths. The processes of globalization were limited to the post-Soviet space and neighboring countries. Against the backdrop of a constant threat from the state, Protestant denominations reduced their activity in the social space of the region. During this period, the formation of the Islamic component in the religious life of the Far East was completed.

The Anti-Terrorist Function of the State and the Problem of “Preventive” Coordination

Introduction: the new legal institutions and technologies in the field of counter-terrorism are a matter of great importance for the theory of state and law; in this connection the author of the paper set the aim to study the formation, evolution and unification of this legal trend. Methods: the methodological framework for this study is a set of methods of scientific knowledge, among which the main ones are the methods of systematicity and analysis. Results: the author’s point of view grounded in the work is based on the antiterrorist legislation and the opinion of the competent scientific community on the issue of improving the antiterrorist function of the state at a discrete level (with a set of values for different sets of legal arguments) and the regulatory level (with a set of qualitative values of parameters of all the criteria). Based on the legal analysis of the anti-terrorist function of the state, the most popular are the coordination of the fight against terrorism and coordination to minimize the harmful consequences of terrorist manifestations. The topical blocks of issues are raised: I. features of the function system: 1) coordination preventive antiterrorist technology, 2) coordination and human will, 3) international law and selfdefense; II. transformation of terrorism manifestations and conceptual approach to counter- terrorism: 1) international self-defense, 2) modernization of statehood, 3) complex character of prevention; III. appropriateness of anti-terrorist reaction: 1) optimal prevention, 2) legal phenomena, 3) law and legislation. Conclusions: the study revealed the role of the coordination preventive anti-terrorist technology. It is established that due to the complexity of the legal registration of preventive tools and many unresolved related matters it is not possible to highlight the effective coordination of terrorism prevention in modern conditions.

The impact of the Prevent duty on schools: A review of the evidence

The UK has emerged as an influential global player in developing policy to counter violent extremism, and therefore it is important to consider the emerging evidence about the impact of this policy in education. The Prevent duty came into force in the UK in 2015, placing a legal responsibility on schools and teachers to implement anti‐terrorist legislation and prevent young people from being drawn into extremism or radicalisation. This article reviews all of the material based on empirical studies in England involving school teachers and students published between 2015 (when the duty was introduced) and the beginning of 2019 (27 articles and reports in total), to consider the impact of the policy on schools. The key themes emerging from our analysis of this evidence base are related to (1) the ways the policy is interpreted within Islamophobic discourses, (2) the emergence of Britishness as a key feature of fundamental British values and (3) the implications of framing Prevent as a safeguarding issue. We argue that the evidence gives support to those who have been critical of the Prevent duty in schools, and that it seems to be generating a number of unintended and negative side‐effects. However, the evidence also illustrates how teachers have agency in relation to the policy, and may thus be able to enact the policy in ways which reduce some of the most harmful effects.

Same Old (Macro-) Securitization? A Comparison of Political Reactions to Major Terrorist Attacks in the United States and France

Abstract After the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, the French government reacted swiftly by declaring a state of emergency. This state of emergency remained in place for over two years before it was ended in November 2017, only after being replaced by the new anti-terror legislation. The attacks as well as the government’s reactions evoked parallels to 9/11 and its aftermath. This is a puzzling observation when taking into consideration that the Bush administration’s reactions have been criticized harshly and that the US ‘War on Terror’ (WoT) was initially considered a serious failure in France. We can assume that this adaption of the discourse and practices stems from a successful establishment of the WoT macro-securitization. By using Securitization Theory, we outline the development of this macro-securitization by comparing its current manifestation in France against the backdrop of its origins in the US after 9/11. We analysed securitizing moves in the discourses, as well as domestic and international emergency measure policies. We find extensive similarities with view of both; yet there are differing degrees of securitizing terrorism and the institutionalisation of the WoT in the two states. This suggests that the WoT narrative is still dominant internationally to frame the risk of terrorism as an existential threat, thus enabling repressive actions and the obstruction of a meaningful debate about the underlying problems causing terrorism in the first place.

Dennis G. Molinaro. An Exceptional Law: Section 98 and the Emergency State, 1919–1936.

Scholarly attention to the history of the legal repression of perceived radicalism in Canada has grown substantially since 9/11. This interest infuses the recent volumes of the Canadian state-trials series published by the University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, and other works such as Secret Service: Political Policing in Canada from the Fenians to Fortress America by Reg Whitaker, Gregory S. Kealey, and Andrew Parnaby (2012). Present-day concerns also permeate An Exceptional Law: Section 98 and the Emergency State, 1919–1936, Dennis G. Molinaro’s detailed examination of Section 98 of the Canadian Criminal Code. This section, passed by Parliament in 1919, took aim at “unlawful associations” and their members. An association was unlawful if its professed purpose was to “bring about any governmental, industrial or economic change within Canada by the use of force, violence, terrorism, or physical injury to person or property” (quoted on 239). This very broad definition of such associations allowed authorities to silence critics of the status quo, particularly Communists. Molinaro suggests that examining repressive laws “[helps] us find possible solutions to present-day problems” (5), and he concludes his study by connecting Section 98 to recent anti-terrorism legislation, the response to G20 riots in Toronto, and the Edward Snowden revelations.