EU’s counterterrorism laws are Orwellian: Amnesty

Some states have misused counter-terror laws to target human rights defenders and political activists. The use of emergency laws by French police to put environmental activists under house arrest ahead of the UN Climate Conference in Paris in 2015 is a stark example.

Surveillance states
Many EU countries have joined the ranks of “surveillance states” as new laws allowing indiscriminate mass surveillance have been passed giving intrusive powers to security and intelligence services.

Mass surveillance powers have been granted or otherwise expanded in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, among others, allowing the mass interception of and possible access to the data of millions of people.

Unsupervised targeted surveillance has also been massively expanded. Poland’s 2016 Counter-terrorism Law permits covert surveillance measures targeting foreign nationals, including wire-tapping, monitoring of electronic communications, and surveillance of telecommunications networks and devices without any judicial oversight for three months.

David Miranda, a Brazilian national who was assisting with the journalistic investigation into Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations, was stopped under terrorism powers while transiting through the UK in 2013. He was detained, searched and interrogated for nine hours on suspicion of involvement in “espionage” and “terrorism.” His mobile phone, laptop, external hard drive and other materials were confiscated.

Thought crimes
Amnesty says that in a modern twist of the Orwellian “thought crime,” people can now be prosecuted for actions that have extremely tenuous links to actual criminal behavior. With counter-terror measures focusing ever more on prevention, governments have invested in “pre-crime” initiatives and become increasingly reliant on administrative control orders to restrict people’s freedom of movement and other rights. This has led to many people being placed under curfew, given travel bans or electronically tagged without ever being charged with or convicted of any crime. In these cases, evidence is often kept secret, meaning that those accused of “pre-crimes” are not able to adequately defend themselves.

Targeting of refugees and minority groups
Migrants and refugees, human rights defenders, activists and minority groups have been particularly targeted by new powers, with profiling, often based on stereotyping, leading to the outright misuse of laws that define terrorism very loosely.

Many EU member states are attempting to draw links between the refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism. In November, a Hungarian court sentenced Ahmed H - a Syrian national residing in Cyprus – to ten years in prison for committing an “act of terror”. This “acts of terror” consisted of throwing stones and speaking to a crowd through a megaphone during clashes with border police. In reality, he had travelled to help his elderly parents on their journey fleeing Syria to Europe. Whilst he admitted stone throwing, footage shows that he had also been trying to calm the crowd.

Ahmed’s wife, Nadia, told Amnesty International: “Our lives have been turned upside down. I try to be both mother and father to my daughters but it is very hard. We miss Ahmed and we are scared for him.”

A chilling effect
Fear of being labelled a security threat or an “extremist” has had a chilling effect, shrinking space for free expression. In Spain, two puppeteers were arrested and charged with “glorification of terrorism” after a satirical performance during which a puppet held a banner with a slogan which was deemed to support an armed group. In France, a similar offence – “apology of terrorism” – has been used to charge hundreds of people, including children, for “offences” such as posting comments on Facebook that do not incite violence.

In 2015 French courts handed down 385 sentences for “apology of terrorism”, a third of which were against minors. Definitions of what constitutes “apology” are extremely broad.

In Spain, a popular musician was arrested and detained for a series of tweets including a joke about offering former King Juan Carlos a cake bomb as a birthday gift.

Discriminatory measures have had a disproportionate and profoundly negative impact on Muslims, foreign nationals or people perceived to be Muslim or foreign. Discriminatory action by the state and its agents is increasingly seen as “acceptable” in the national security context.

“Whilst the threat posed by terrorism is very real and must always be responded to resolutely, the role of governments should be to provide security for people to enjoy their rights rather than restricting people’s rights in the name security,” said Dalhuisen.

“EU governments are using counter-terrorism measures to consolidate draconian powers, target groups in discriminatory ways and strip away human rights under the guise of defending them. We are in danger of creating societies in which liberty becomes the exception and fear the rule.”