 The British House of Commons voted earlier this week to strengthen the anti-terrorism laws by criminalizing the glorification of terrorist operations. British Prime Minister Tony Blair achieved victory through the House of Commons in his anti-terrorism efforts as the House agreed, with a majority of 83 votes in favor of the new law. Despite criticism by a number of sympathizers members of the ruling Labor Party, Prime Minister Tony Blair obtained a clear majority as 315 MPs voted for the bill whereas 277 MPs who voted against it.
| See, I'm not smart enough to understand why, on the one hand, Islamists are howling for the world's press to be muzzled to protect their tender sensibilities, and on the other hand they're demanding that their speech remain unrestricted, to the point of calling for murder, mayhem, and the overthrow of civilization. |
Blair has lost three ballots since November 2005, which is partly due to a rebellion within his Labor Party. The British prime minister said that the vote would send a "signal of power" and help the authorities in confronting those who support violence.
| But last year's attacks are all in the past now, and we were all so much younger then. And the victims aren't dead anymore, and the maimed have healed up, mostly. So maybe we should just let things go along like they've been going... |
Last month, the House of Lords voted to remove this article from the anti-terrorism bill; however, the House of Commons voted in the past few days to restore it, despite the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats voting against this reinstallation. The bill will be sent back to the House of Lords over the next few days for another ballot.
| There's no hurry, no urgency, all the time in the world... |
According to the statements made by a Hizb ul-Tahrir representative to Asharq al-Awsat, "The bill is not final, and will be sent back to the House of Lords." The source pointed out that what was strange was that the bill, with all the articles that were rejected by the House of Lords, would be sent back to the same Upper House.
| Maybe they'll get the idea this time... |
He explained that Hizb ul-Tahrir would go to the High Court if it were banned by the British Government. He added that Hizb ul-Tahrir has bases in a number of Arab, Islamic, and European countries.
| And is banned in many of them, for the same reasons the Brits talked briefly about cracking down on them. |
The British Government, following the final approval of the bill after it passes through the House of Lords, hopes to ban fundamentalist organizations and parties, such as Hizb ul-Tahrir, and Al-Ghuraba, which was led by the Syrian, Omar Bakri, before he escaped to Beirut.
| Y'mean before he ran away with his tail between his legs? |
The anti-terrorism bill was presented after the July 2005 terrorist attacks, which led to the death of 50 people in London. Those in opposition to the new anti-terrorism law argued, "The term glorification is too ambiguous, and could endanger freedom of expression." Blair said that it was necessary to increase the powers of the security forces in order to launch campaigns against those believed to encourage violent attacks.
| Those campaigns are going to come any day now, we're sure... |
The dispute over the glorification term has become more urgent this month, after demonstrators in Britain protesting against the Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammad, raised banners inciting violence against non-Muslims.
| I'd have thought it would have cleared things right up, what with people parading around with the glorification of violence on signs and banners and such. |
Fundamentalists told Asharq al-Awsat that the anti-terrorism law in its new form would push the Islamists to work covertly.
| Kind of boggles the mind, doesn't it, that they're describing a situation where they can't subvert the state in broad daylight as a bad thing. |
Egyptian Islamist Dr Hani al-Sibai, director of the Al-Maqrizi Center for Studies in London said, "A law banning the glorification of terrorism means muzzling the Islamists, because the term is broad; even the Friday sermons will be subjected to the new law."
Al-Sibai pointed out that the interpretation of the two Quranic chapters, al-Anfal and al-Towba, could be taken as glorification of terrorism as they refer to fighting.
| So you're admitting that the problem comes down to Islam itself, rather than a small sect within it? |
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Radical Islamic group