Letter: Terrorism Bill impact

Tuesday 28 December 1999 01:02 GMT

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Sir: The letter of the Home Secretary's proposed Prevention of Terrorism Bill gives ample scope for anxiety about its spirit and likely impact.

Take the key phrase, "serious violence against any person or property". A court could reasonably interpret "any" as attaching as much to "property" as to "person". Now, to destroy a window, fence, gate, billboard or banner is to commit "serious violence" against it. Given political motivation, such conduct is, according to the Bill, terrorism.

If Mr Straw is the liberal he says he is, this is one of the things he should change.

TONY SKILLEN

Reader in Philosophy

University of Kent at Canterbury

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