Can driving a car be considered an act of terrorism? Apparently it can if you are a woman in Saudi Arabia. Saudi women who assert their right to drive have previously been charged with "disturbing public order" – an offence that is due to be classified as terrorism under a new law which is awaiting final approval from the king.

Other "terrorist" crimes in the draft law include "endangering national unity" and "defaming the state" – charges that are often applied to peaceful critics of the government.

Defining terrorism for legal purposes is a notoriously difficult and complex business but by any sensible definition it has to involve the use or threat of violence.

Legalities aside, though, concepts of terrorism are also highly politicised. Since all decent people are expected to disapprove of terrorism, tarring opposition movements with the terrorism brush – regardless of whether they deserve it – becomes a way of discrediting them.

In the case of opposition movements that resort to violence this can be controversial territory (was Nelson Mandela a terrorist or a freedom fighter, etc, etc) but the draft Saudi law goes a step further by applying the terrorism label to nonviolent expressions of dissent.

Saudi Arabia is by no means the first Arab country to move in this direction. In 2009, when Egypt was preparing an anti-terrorism law (which was supposed to allow for the much-criticised "emergency" law to be dropped), similar issues arose.

A UN report criticised Egypt's draft, partly because its definition of terrorism appeared to include "acts that do not entail physical violence against human beings" such as the occupation of buildings.

Shortly afterwards, Mauritania also came up with a vague and wide-ranging law which listed "cyber crime" as an act of terrorism.

The trouble with this sort of thing is that it brings anti-terrorism laws into disrepute. As the UN report noted in connection with Egypt, "Any anti-terrorism law that is not properly confined to the countering of terrorism is problematic."

Saudi Arabia's new law was approved by the cabinet earlier this month following a review by the unelected parliament, the Shura Council. It will come into force when the king issues a decree.

In line with the kingdom's policy of non-open government, the final text has not been published, though some details have appeared in the Saudi press. 

An earlier draft was leaked to Amnesty International in 2011. Amnesty said at the time:

"This draft law poses a serious threat to freedom of expression in the Kingdom in the name of preventing terrorism. If passed it would pave the way for even the smallest acts of peaceful dissent to be branded terrorism and risk massive human rights violations."

Last month Saudi Arabia was one of several repressive countries 
elected to the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term. 

     
Posted by Brian Whitaker
Saturday, 28 December 2013