Politic-Economic-Society-Tech

Japan files acceptance of U.N. terrorism pact

The Japanese government submitted a letter of acceptance of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan at U.N. headquarters in New York at midnight Friday Japan time, government officials said.
The submission of the letter will put the treaty into effect in Japan on Dec. 16, 30 days after the submission of the letter.

The treaty was adopted at the U.N. general meeting in 1997 and Japan signed it in 1998.

The Diet passed a bill on Nov. 9 to ratify the treaty together with a set of bills to revise existing Japanese laws in line with the pact, in order to promote cooperation with the international community in combating terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

The treaty on the suppression of terrorist attacks stipulates that a person commits an offense if that person unlawfully and intentionally delivers, places, discharges or detonates an explosive or other lethal device in, into or against a place of public use, a state or government facility, a public transportation system or an infrastructure facility.

The pact calls for each signatory state to make these offenses punishable by appropriate penalties that take into account the grave nature of the offenses under domestic law.

The Japanese government revised seven laws, including those covering the handling of explosives, chemical weapons and nuclear reactors.

Under the proposed measures, a person found guilty of using a biological or poisonous weapon would be sentenced to anything from two years to life in prison, or fined up to 10 million yen.

Anyone found to have spread biological agents or toxins in public places would also be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison or ordered to pay up to 5 million yen.

Anyone found to have caused injury to other people or property through the use of nuclear fuels or radioactive substances would also be subject to punishment.

source: http://www.mb.com.ph, The Japan Times: Nov. 18, 2001