TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT PASSES IN THE LOWER HOUSE

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000755

SIPDIS

WHA/CAR (BENT),INL/LP (BROWN),SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD AND J7
(RHANNAN),S/CT AND IO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER ASEC PREL KCRM JM
SUBJECT: TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT PASSES IN THE LOWER HOUSE

REF: A. KINGSTON 03374


B. KINGSTON 03389

C. SECSTATE 269653


1. After a five-hour, heated debate on the Terrorism
Prevention Act in Parliament on March 15, the GOJ secured the
support of the Opposition and the act was passed in the lower
house that evening. The debate commenced with Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade K.D. Knight spending over
an hour defending provisions of the bill. Delroy Chuck,
Opposition spokesperson on justice issues, responded
forcefully on issues that centered on the definition of
terrorism and terrorist activity.


2. Based on recommendations in the Opposition's Minority
Report (Ref A),the GOJ agreed to the definition of terrorism
as "extreme acts of violence that causes death, serious
bodily harm, endangers life and calculated to cause
substantial property damage." A clause was added which will
allow the legislation to be reviewed by a joint select
committee of parliament after two years. The parties also
agreed to life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for
terrorism related offenses.


3. Both sides agreed that they wanted to comply with UNSCR
1373 and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson stressed that no
Jamaican government has ever reneged on its international
treaty obligations. FM Knight added that the passage of this
legislation would allow Jamaica to enter into the eight
remaining counterterrorism conventions.


4. Michelle Walker, Head of the Legal Unit at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) told Poloff that
the Ministry is pleased with the outcome; however, as
contentious as the debate was last night, this legislation
must still pass the Senate, thus "the fight is not yet over."


5. Post will continue to monitor and report on the status of
this legislation and the pending ratification of the
remaining counterterrorism conventions.
TIGHE