LAW TAKES INTO ACCOUNT CONSEQUENCES OF TERROR ACTS, RIGHTS ABUSE AS DEFINED BY SHARIA
JEDDAH, Dec 17 — Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers on Monday passed a new counterterrorism law, including a definition of terrorism and tough penalties for funders, terrorists and related organizations, reported Arab News.
Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said the Cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Salman, passed the law on the recommendation of the Shoura Council and the Interior Ministry.
Khoja said the punishment stipulated in the existing Anti-Money Laundering Act would be applied for terrorists and funders until a new bylaw is enacted.
The law takes into account the consequences of such crimes including infringements on human rights as defined by Shariah.
The law defines terrorism as any act by individuals or groups with a criminal motive, directly or indirectly, to undermine public order and the state’s security and stability.
It also covers actions endangering national unity, disabling the country’s basic law or some of its articles, defaming the state or its reputation, causing damage to one of the state’s facilities or natural resources, attempting to force one of its agencies to take undesired actions, threatening to carry out actions leading to the aforementioned goals, or inciting others to commit these crimes.
The law specifies the procedures to deal with a terror suspect or terror financier.
The Minister of Interior is empowered to provide immunity from prosecution for any person who reports such crimes and cooperates with the authorities during such investigations.
The minister is also allowed to free a sentenced person from jail for cooperating with the government.
Meanwhile, the US has sent two detainees being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility back to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said on Monday.
Saad Muhammad Husayn Al-Qahtani and Hamood Abdullah Hamood had been held at the Guantanamo facility in Cuba since 2002. They were not charged with a crime. Hamood, 48, was initially listed as a Yemeni national. Al-Qahtani, 35, told US investigators he was a student who went to Afghanistan in April 2001.–Arab News
