‘Indirect’ incitement to terrorism to be punishable

Belgium could soon consider ‘indirect’ incitement to terrorism a crime, reports Le Soir. Justice minister Annemie Turtelboom’s law proposal was yesterday passed by the senate’s justice commission and will become law if voted by parliament. The proposal raises for the first time in Belgian law the issue of indirect provocation, specifically public messages “advocating, directly or not, the perpetrating of terrorism acts” and bearing the risk that such  acts “could be committed” as a consequence. Human rights group Ligue des Droits de l’Homme has attacked the text as “blurry, imprecise and going against the principle of legality”. Belgian authorities are trying to incorporate within Belgian law an existing European framework decision aimed at combating terrorism.