Tokyo, June 15: Japan enacted a controversial anti-terror law Thursday that sparked street protests and warnings from critics that it would stomp on citizens’ privacy rights.
The upper house of parliament passed the conspiracy bill early Thursday after political wrangling through the night, overcoming the weak opposition’s no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet and a censure motion aimed at Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda.
The bill passed the more powerful lower house last month — Abe’s ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in both houses.
The new law allows investigators to charge an individual or organisation which conspires to engage in terrorism or other serious crimes.
But rights groups, Japan’s national bar association and numerous academics have opposed the bill, saying it is so broad it could be abused to allow wiretapping of innocent citizens and threaten privacy and freedom of expression guarantees in the constitution.
US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden and Joseph Cannataci, UN special rapporteur on the right to privacy, have both criticised the law.
It has also sparked regular street protests nationwide.
The government argues that the legislation is necessary to prevent terrorism ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Officials also say it is a prerequisite for implementing a UN treaty against transnational organised crime which Japan signed in 2000.
Agencies France-Presse
