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German minister sparks row over
anti-terror measures
Tom Armitage
Reuters
Thursday April 19, 2007
Terror suspects should not be presumed innocent until proven guilty,
Germany's interior minister said on Thursday, sparking controversy
over the extent of new anti-terrorism laws in the liberal country.
The comments by Wolfgang Schaeuble have stirred a debate in Germany
where the post-war constitution is seen as enshrining citizens'
liberty and protecting them from the state persecution which occurred
under the Nazi and Communist regimes.
Recent changes to Germany's security policies and anti-terrorism
laws have already met with fierce resistance despite a near miss
last year when two suitcase bombs planted by terrorists on German
trains failed to detonate.
"Would it be right to say that I would prefer to allow ten
attacks to take place rather than to prevent one person from trying
who perhaps does not intend to launch an attack? In my opinion that
would be wrong," Schaeuble said in an interview with Stern
magazine, published on Thursday.
In suspected terror cases, the presumption of innocence should
be lifted, he said, leading some to conclude that he was planning
a further tightening of Germany's anti-terrorism laws.
Gerhart Baum, a former interior minister and member of the opposition
Free Democrats (FDP), said Schaeuble's suggestions were "legally
outrageous" and called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to intervene.
"This is about changing the fundamental coordinates of our
legal system," Baum told the Berliner Zeitung daily.
In a sign of tensions within the coalition government, Schaeuble's
suggestion was rejected by Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, a
member of the Social Democrat (SPD) party that rules in partnership
with Merkel's conservatives.
The SPD has also rejected Schaeuble's proposals to allow the German
army to be deployed within the country's borders while Zypries and
Schaeuble have clashed over plans to include fingerprints in passports.
The government plans to discuss the issues at a meeting in the next
few weeks.
New anti-terrorism measures and suggestions for pre-emptive police
powers have met resistance in Germany, despite being relatively
mild in comparison to the changes introduced in neighboring France
by presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
A Hamburg-based al Qaeda cell has been blamed for the September
11, 2001, attacks on the United States, prompting Germany to introduce
a new law on combating international terrorism.
This gave security services access, under strict conditions, to
suspects' banking, telephone and other details. It was extended
this year to grant easier access to airline passenger lists and
bank account data.
The government on Wednesday announced plans to keep all telephone
call logs for six months to aid police work.
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