JURIST - Paper Chase: Dutch parliament approves anti-terrorism law

[JURIST] The Dutch parliament official website] has approved a new anti-terror bill that dramatically lowers the amount of evidence needed for Dutch police to arrest terror suspects and allows officials to hold suspects for up to two weeks without charge. The law will go into effect immediately and allows prosecutors to approve various surveillance methods for terror suspects without any reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The measure also allows police in the Netherlands to spot search a suspect's person, vehicle and belongings without probable cause in some public places, such as airports, industrial complexes, sports stadiums and government buildings. The bill passed the lower house [JURIST report] of parliament last year.

The new anti-terror measure is in response to a rise in terrorist activity, most notably the 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh [BBC report]. Nine Muslim radicals of the Hofstad terrorist network were convicted in March [BBC report] of the murder under anti-terror laws. AP has more.

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