Gov't submits contentious anti-conspiracy bill to Diet
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe submitted a controversial bill to the Diet on Tuesday that would punish preparations to carry out serious crimes, ostensibly in an effort to combat terrorism.
The bill was submitted to the House of Representatives following Cabinet approval earlier in the day. The current Diet session is due to end in mid-June.
The government claims that the bill is a necessary measure to thwart terrorism at the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, and to ratify the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which Japan signed in 2000. But its passage through parliament is unlikely to be smooth.
The Abe administration has stressed that the bill is less wide-reaching than three previous submissions that flopped amid concern they could suppress free speech.
Opponents, however, warn that the latest version could still lead to invasive state surveillance and arbitrary punishment of civic groups and labor unions.
The government's top spokesman insisted that the bill is sufficiently different from previous versions to "eliminate uncertainty and concern."
Read the full story at The Mainichi
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Some 300 people protest 'anti-conspiracy' bill on morning of its Cabinet approval
When the so called "anti-conspiracy bill" was approved by the Cabinet on the morning of March 21, hundreds gathered in front of the prime minister's office to protest the move.
The bill comprises revisions to the Act on Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds that would allow punishment to be meted out to those judged to have been preparing to commit a crime but have not yet carried it out.
The protest was organized by several civic groups, including Kyobozai NO! Jikko Iinkai (No to the anti-conspiracy bill! planning committee), which has opposed the State Secrets Law passed in 2013, and the wiretapping law, which expanded the scope of wiretapping authorized for criminal investigations in 2016.
Read the full story at The Mainichi