Though shalt not share thine SIM card!
Australians, you have been warned! If you give your SIM card to a relative, who later turns out to be a terrorist (even if you don't know about it at the time), you can be hunted down, arrested, charged with something like recklessly providing material support for terrorism and jailed for 15 years. Everyone knows that those SIM cards have become a real rarity. They are not sold everywhere, you know! You sometimes have to walk more than 10 metres to find a store which will carry completely anonymous, pre-paid SIM cards, or phones.
Actually, it's not a laughing matter. A few days ago I wrote about the inversion of justice created by the detention powers under the anti-terrorism laws. At the time of that post, Dr Haneef had been in detention without charge for ten days as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) tried to find any evidence of his connection to the failed terrorist attacks in UK. Needless to say that if this extended detention did not lead to any charges, the AFP would have had one heck of an egg on its face. Well, this morning the AFP charged Haneef with a "terrorist offence", namely recklessly providing support for a terrorist organisation.
The offence is set out in section 102.7(2) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth):
102.7 Providing support to a terrorist organisation
…
(2) A person commits an offence if:(a) the person intentionally provides to an organisation support or resources that would help the organisation engage in an activity described in paragraph (a) of the definition of terrorist organisation in this Division; and (b) the organisation is a terrorist organisation; and
(c) the person is reckless as to whether the organisation is a terrorist organisation.Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years.
So what exactly is Haneef accused of doing to commit this crime? Well, apparently he left a SIM card to his second cousin, who was one of the failed UK terrorists. That's right - giving a SIM card to a relative, without knowing that he is a terrorist, can lend you in jail for fifteen years.
Because "support" or "resources" are not defined in the legislation, it is arguable that giving your relative a SIM card so he can get cheaper calls, can fall within the scope of the legislation. The fact that anyone can buy a SIM card or a disposable phone in most stores, so it is not much of a resource, may not matter one bit. Providing hundreds of millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein's regime does not seem to qualify though, so anyone doing that can rest easy.
The width of the provision and uncertainty of what constitutes an offence under that section is remarkable not only in light of the extremely serious penalties that attach to its breach, but also because a person charged with a "terrorism offence" can only be granted bail in "exceptional circumstances". Therefore, Haneef could spend many months in jail, waiting to find out whether giving your relative something that can be bough for a few dollars in any convenience store falls within the scope of the legislation.
Regardless of whether it does or not, the terrorism legislation clearly needs reform. Not only because it allows detention of people precisely because there is no evidence against them, but also because it is unacceptable that a legislation the breach of which attracts some of the most severe penalties in the Criminal Code is so uncertain. Without definition of what constitutes "support" or "resources" the anti-terrorism laws create a ridiculous situation where someone can spend years in jail for something as innocuous as giving a relative or a friend a commonly available item. Not only is such a situation unjust, it makes a sad joke of the serious issue of terrorism prevention.
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