Germany Tightens Ant-Terrorist Laws

by Yojana Sharma

The $1.4 billion budget line to finance special measures against terrorism was approved last week. The measures approved in Berlin will be financed by increased taxes on tobacco and insurance -- making Germany the first country to raise taxes to fight terror.

"It is a question of the security of our country here and now, therefore the measures must be funded now. It is inconceivable that the funding must come from the next generation, that is, via debt," said German Finance Minister Hans Eichel.

The money will be used particularly to improve the German army's ability to fight battles in distant theatres, to shore up intelligence activities, and for the Federal Criminal Police and Border police to improve electronic surveillance and other activities.

The measures in advance of the European Union meeting were intended also to give EU cooperation a jump start, by providing the wherewithal in advance.

"It is not enough to go to Brussels to talk big about coordinating intelligence or fighting terrorism. We must put our money where our mouth is," said an interior ministry official.

The new measures also include the extension of Germany's anti-terrorism law to include acts taking place in other countries.

The current anti-terrorism law dating from the 1970s only covers terrorist acts that take place in Germany. Under the new law, people in Germany involved in planning or supporting terrorist acts abroad can be prosecuted.

This will pave the way for a proposal to be discussed by EU justice ministers in Brussels, under which warrants issued in one country for terrorist offenses would be recognized by other EU countries and replace extradition.

In their special Cabinet meeting, German ministers also agreed to improve airport security, through more checks on airport personnel, better controls on money laundering and laws on banking secrecy so that police can access suspect accounts.

These issues are to be discussed at the EU level in the next few days.

The authorities fear the country may be harboring such terrorists, who can lie dormant for years until they are needed for major terrorist acts.

However, an expert on the German intelligence service, Erich Schmidt Eenboom, says that despite the activities of the suspects, Germany was not as important base for the Al Qaeda group of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, who has named by U.S. officials as being behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

"There are people living in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland which the secret services believe are part of the bin Laden network, but Germany is more of a rest and recreation center, not a center for terrorist activities," he explained.

Nonetheless, the fear of harboring "sleepers" led to approval of the most controversial of the measures in the government's anti-terrorism package -- the lifting of the so-called "religious privilege" that gives religious groups special protected status under the law of association.

Previously, membership in a religious organization could not be seen as a criminal offense. In contrast, those associated with non-religious criminal groups could be prosecuted.

The end of the "privilege" will make it easier to pass measures to outlaw Islamic organizations that, according to security officials, abuse their religious status to raise funds for extremist groups, and will make it easier for Germany to respond once an EU list of "terrorist" organizations is agreed, as expected in the near future.

German interior minister Otto Schily said: "We cannot allow a small minority of Muslims who live here to carry out actions such as -- in the worst case -- the attack on the United States." However, he refused to name specific organizations which could lose their "religious privilege."

Green party politician Volker Beck said there were several Islamic organizations in Germany currently under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany's internal intelligence organization) that would have been "banned long ago" had it not been for their immunity under the "religious privilege."

The change in the law of association has been welcomed by the Central Council for Islam, an umbrella organization of Muslim groups in Germany.

The deputy chairman of the council, Abu Bakr Rieger, said it would help protect ordinary Muslims in the country who have been affected by a general anti-Muslim backlash.

"Everything must be done to marginalize extremist groups in the future," he said. "It is just as difficult for us to keep extremist groups out of the mosque," he said. He said Muslims in Germany distanced themselves from men like Bin Laden.

Although this was not one of the measures agreed this week, Germany has floated the idea of loosening its rigid data protection laws amid considerable alarm from civil rights groups.

Loosening the data protection laws -- which are among the strictest in Europe -- would enable government departments to exchange information on suspect individuals. "In some cases, data protection has become terrorist protection," said an interior ministry spokesman.

However, many dispute this view. "When there are vague indications that someone belongs to a terrorist organization or is planning something ,the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has all kinds of ways of getting hold of electronic data or eavesdropping on telephone conversations," said Joachim Jacob, the federal official in charge of data protection.

Jacob said the Federal Police, the internal intelligence and the spy agency the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) had never complained so far that data protection laws were hampering their investigations.

"We need to consider the success rate of additional security measures, so that against the backdrop of general hysteria people do not keep throwing up claims that we are tightening things up unnecessarily and in a way that undermines civil liberties," he added.

Schily also called for fingerprints to be included in passports. He added that every foreigner who applies for a passport should be asked for fingerprints -- although this was not discussed yesterday in an attempt to keep the anti-terrorism package as non-controversial as possible.

Green party politicians have rejected the idea of fingerprinting, saying it puts "every citizen under suspicion."

However, several politicians noted that other measures could be brought in to combat terrorism in the near future after discussion on the EU level.