Roundup: Chad adopts controversial anti-terrorism law amid rising terror attacks

Three weeks after a series of suicide attacks in Chad's capital N'Djamena, the country's parliamentarians on Thursday adopted a controversial law that will severely punish perpetrators or accomplices in acts of terrorism.

The law which was passed after a ten-hour debate, imposes a death penalty on any person who commits a terrorist act, finances it or proceeds to recruit and/or train people for their participation in acts of terrorism, regardless of the place they wish to carry it out.

The initial law introduced by government had imposed life imprisonment as the maximum sentence, but the parliamentary commission in charge of examining the law termed life imprisonment as "very lenient" and replaced it with a death penalty.

"A big crime requires severest punishment," the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Moussa Kadam said.

The law extends the period one can be detained to 15 days, with the possibility of extending it twice on authorization from the public prosecutor.

The adoption of the law comes at a time when Chad has witnessed a number of terrorist attacks, with the latest occurring on July 11, 2015 at a market in central N'Djamena, which left 16 people dead and 80 others injured.

On June 15, simultaneous twin attacks occurred at the national police training school and at the Central police station in the city center, leaving 38 people dead and 100 others injured.

An operation launched two weeks later by the police to arrest the terrorists resulted in 11 deaths that included six suicide bombers and five police officers.

Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorist group, against which Chad and other neighbouring countries launched a military offensive early this year, claimed responsibility for all these attacks.

Kadam noted that given the recent upsurge in acts of terrorism, it was necessary for the government to equip itself with the necessary legal instruments to deal firmly with terrorists and their accomplices.

However, some political and civil society leaders have condemned the new law, citing its definition of a "terrorist act."

According to article 14 of the new law, "an act of terrorism includes an intention to disrupt normal functioning of public services and provision of essential goods to the public, or creating a crisis situation among the population as well as inciting a general uprising in the country."

Over the weekend, the largest opposition grouping in the country, the Coordination of Political Parties for the Defense of the Constitution (CPDC), termed the new law as "confusing, repressive, extreme and one that will not solve the problem of terrorism in Chad."

"This law was hurriedly drafted, not to contain or solve the problem of terrorism, but to prevent and punish popular disagreements. Instead of punishing the acts, it punishes opinions, yet opinions are protected by the Constitution. It is therefore unconstitutional," CPDC spokesman Ali Gabriel Golhor said when he addressed the press.

Even within the presidential camp, criticisms have started emerging. For instance, ex-prime minister Kassire Delwa Coumakoye, an ally of President Deby Itno, has termed the law as "unnecessary."

However, Chad's secretary general of government and minister in charge of Relations with Parliament, Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul, affirmed that "there was no any hidden intention or any trap in the new law."

He said the government had demonstrated its good faith by amending article 14 to state that "all action will be taken in respect of the fundamental freedoms."

However, this move is yet to convince opponents of the new law.

"We should not sell our freedoms for the sake of security," said Romadoumngar Nialbe Felix, the president of the Union for Renewal and Democracy parliamentary group. Endit