Govt to jail terrorists for life

PERSONS charged with acts of terrorism in Trinidad and Tobago could be imprisoned for life once the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2004 becomes law. Under the proposed legislation, persons who commit terrorist hoaxes will also serve lengthy sentences in jail once convicted by a court of law. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Government would soon bring tough anti-terrorism legislation to Parliament in order to satisfy TT’s international obligations to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1373. According to the Bill’s explanatory note, its purpose is to “criminalise and to provide for the detection, prevention, prosecution, conviction and punishment of terrorist activities.” The Bill also provides for the “confiscation, forfeiture and seizure of terrorists’ assets.

In Clause 22, the penalty for persons found guilty of using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons against TT nationals, TT temporary residents or property in TT, is life imprisonment. In Clause 20, the use or acquisition of radioactive materials “for the purpose of causing death, serious bodily injury or damage to property or the environment” also carries a penalty of life imprisonment. Anyone who transports an explosive device into a public place for the purpose of detonating it will also serve life imprisonment. Persons who commit, “Hoaxes involving noxious substances, noxious thing, lethal device or weapon of mass destruction,” will not escape unscathed as Clause 21 indicated they could be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Under this clause, the court, “Would be empowered to order the offender to reimburse any party incurring expenses incident to any emergency or investigative response to the hoax.” Last year, a daily newspaper (not Newsday) carried a report of an alleged terrorist lab being found in South Trinidad. Subsequent police investigations proved that report to be a hoax.