JURIST - Paper Chase: Terror glorification offense again rejected in UK upper house

[JURIST] The UK House of Lords [official website] Tuesday voted by a margin of 160-156 to remove references to the "glorification" of terrorism from the Terrorism Bill [text; Home Office backgrounder], proposed after the London bombings [JURIST news archive] last July. The Lords received the bill [JURIST report] after the UK House of Commons [official website] had previously voted [JURIST report] to keep the offense among the bill's provisions, which UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said would be a "signal of strength" in fighting terrorism. Allowing the glorification offense to remain in the bill would also enable action to be taken against individuals who hold signs glorifying the July bombers, as happened during recent protests against cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive].

The House of Lords removed the glorification of terrorism offense [JURIST report] from the bill once before in January. The proposed legislation will now return to the House of Commons and the government is expected to again reverse the removal of the term from the bill. BBC News has more.

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