The Australian, October 22, 2005
Laws will expose 80 Muslim suspects
Cameron Stewart
UP to 80 Australian Muslims could immediately be placed under effective house
arrest under the Government's proposed anti-terror laws.
The laws mean they could each be required to wear tracking devices, or prevented
from working, or using the telephone or internet, or communicating with certain
people.
For the first time, the laws will cover the estimated 80 Australians who have received
or provided training with a listed terrorist organisation before 2002.
Previously, the Government has had no effective powers over these people, almost all
of whom are Muslims, because laws prohibiting training with terrorist groups came
into force only in July 2002 and were not retrospective.
However, under the proposed new laws, such people can be subjected to tough
so-called control orders if authorities still believe they pose a security risk.
The provisions, which until now have escaped public scrutiny, are aimed at helping
authorities monitor people who have trained with terror groups and are still deemed to
pose a potential risk.
However, they will anger critics of the laws, who will argue they can be misused to
"heavy" anyone purely on the basis that they have had past links with groups that are
now illegal.
The Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network slammed the proposed laws
yesterday as "a backdoor way to limit the freedoms of people who can't be found
guilty of a crime".
The laws will apply to anyone who has trained overseas with any of the 17 banned
terror groups, including al-Qa'ida, Jemaah Islamiah, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abu Sayyaf and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The intent of the law is that authorities leave these people alone if it is considered
they no longer pose a security risk.
But if they are deemed to be a threat, the Government can impose a wide range of
restrictions on their freedoms.
These include requiring that a person be fingerprinted and photographed and that they
report to specific places at specific times. They may be fitted with a tracking device
and banned from going to certain places or speaking with certain people or groups.
They may also be banned from working or from using the internet or leaving Australia.
Authorities have long expressed frustration that they have no legal powers to more
effectively monitor those Australians who trained with terrorist groups before 2002.
In March this year, the then head of ASIO, Dennis Richardson, said the great majority
of people in Australia who trained with terrorist groups remained free because
"amongst other reasons, the relevant laws did not come into force until July 2002".
"Probably less than 10 per cent of people in Australia who have, or have had, a
substantive involvement with al-Qa'ida, JI and other like-minded groups will ever face a
court of law," he said.
"In many cases, the capacity to obtain evidence sufficient to meet proper legal
standards is beyond reach.
"But the community has an understandable expectation that the Government will
lawfully protect it from the potential threat posed by those substantially involved with
al-Qa'ida and other terrorist groups, and from those who have undertaken terrorist
training. Equally, it is important that any action taken against such people -
monitoring and otherwise - is within a proper legal framework."
© The Australian
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