Wellington:
New Zealand on Thursday passed a new safety law to criminalise preparing a terror attack, tightening a loophole that was exposed by a man who went on to conduct a mass stabbing in the country’s most populated city.
New Zealand has for months been moving to strengthen its safety laws amid heightened fears of lone wolf terror attacks, but the new law was rushed by means of its parliament right after Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen stabbed and wounded seven folks in a supermarket in Auckland earlier this month.
It is now an offence to plot and prepare a terror attack, which Kris Faafoi, New Zealand’s Minister of Justice, mentioned brings safety laws in line with most other nations.
“The nature of terrorism has changed. Across the world there are more lone actors, rather than larger organised groups,” Faafoi mentioned in an emailed statement.
The new law comes much less than a month right after police shot dead Samsudeen, a 32-year-old Sri Lankan national, moments right after he launched his attack.
Samsudeen had been convicted and imprisoned for about 3 years prior to becoming released in July.
New Zealand had in 2020 unsuccessfully sought to charge Samsudeen with terrorism offences right after he purchased a hunting knife and was located with Islamic State videos.
However, a judge ruled Samsudeen did not convene New Zealand’s terror laws at the time. He was released, even though he was placed beneath 24-hour police surveillance.
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