MAIN POINTS OF THE EMERGENCY STATUTE MEASURES
Main points of the emergency statute measures
MAIN points of the Government's draft Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Bill published last night:
The Bill was drawn up in the wake of last month's Omagh bomb which killed 28 people. Responsibility was claimed by the Real IRA.
The measures are aimed primarily at cracking down on dissident terrorist groups which have not renounced violence permanently.
The Bill does not name the organisations covered, but those concerned, which were specified under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, are: the Continuity IRA; the Real IRA; the LVF and the INLA. The LVF and INLA have since declared ceasefires.
Under the Bill, the opinion of a senior police officer would be admissible in court as evidence of membership of specific terrorist groups
Courts would be allowed to draw inference from a suspect's refusal to answer questions during the course of an investigation into membership of a proscribed organisation. On conviction, the assets of individuals found to be members would be subject to forfeiture if they had been used in support of the group, or could be in future
In a measure aimed at Middle East terrorism, it would become an offence to conspire in the UK to commit terrorist or other serious offences in a foreign country
MPs break their summer holiday to return to the Commons for one day tomorrow to debate the legislation. The Lords return on Thursday, and, if successful the Bill could be on the statute book by the end of the week.
MAIN points of the Government's draft Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Bill published last night:
The Bill was drawn up in the wake of last month's Omagh bomb which killed 28 people. Responsibility was claimed by the Real IRA.
The measures are aimed primarily at cracking down on dissident terrorist groups which have not renounced violence permanently.
The Bill does not name the organisations covered, but those concerned, which were specified under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, are: the Continuity IRA; the Real IRA; the LVF and the INLA. The LVF and INLA have since declared ceasefires.
Under the Bill, the opinion of a senior police officer would be admissible in court as evidence of membership of specific terrorist groups
Courts would be allowed to draw inference from a suspect's refusal to answer questions during the course of an investigation into membership of a proscribed organisation. On conviction, the assets of individuals found to be members would be subject to forfeiture if they had been used in support of the group, or could be in future
In a measure aimed at Middle East terrorism, it would become an offence to conspire in the UK to commit terrorist or other serious offences in a foreign country
MPs break their summer holiday to return to the Commons for one day tomorrow to debate the legislation. The Lords return on Thursday, and, if successful the Bill could be on the statute book by the end of the week.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0349
Published Date: 02-Sep-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.