The Hindu : International : Blair pushes through law against "glorifying terrorism"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 17, 2006

International

International

Blair pushes through law against "glorifying terrorism"

Hasan Suroor

After a string of setbacks, the Premier pulls off a political coup

LONDON: After a string of political setbacks in recent weeks, Prime Minister Tony Blair, on Wednesday, pulled off a political coup when he got a majority of his MPs to vote for a controversial new offence of "glorifying'' terrorism overturning the verdict of the Lords.

The proposed measure, passed in the face of strong Opposition from the Tories, the Liberal Democrats and a number of Labour MPs who voted against it, would be in addition to the existing provisions against direct incitement. It would cover a wide range of actions deemed as "glorifying'' terrorism including speeches, slogans or displaying inflammatory placards such as those seen at a protest march in London recently against cartoons of Prophet Muhammed.

Move against hate

The idea, according to the Government, is to discourage "preachers of hate'' such as radical imams who have been propagating "hatred'' in the garb of religious sermons. Islamist groups such as Hizb ut Tahrir are likely to be banned under the proposed law. Mr. Blair, describing the passage of the bill as a "signal of strength'' to potential mischief-makers, said: "The law that we passed today will allow us to take far stronger action against people who don't just directly engage in terrorism but indirectly incite it.''

The measure, which will become law only after it has been approved by the Lords, was attacked by the Opposition and civil rights groups who said that the term "glorification'' was too vague and could be used to curb free speech.

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