SINGAPORE – With the specter of terrorism on civil aviation nonetheless palpable greater than 20 years after the 9/11 assaults, Singapore is amending its legal guidelines to convey them consistent with two worldwide treaties that had been crafted within the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the US to discourage related incidents.
On Monday (Feb 14), Parliament handed the Hijacking of Plane and Safety of Plane and Worldwide Airports (Modification) Invoice.
The brand new legislation criminalises the usage of an plane as a weapon, the usage of nuclear and biochemical weapons on planes, the transport of such harmful supplies, and cyber assaults on air navigation amenities.
People discovered responsible of those crimes will likely be jailed for all times.
The legislation additionally permits corporations to be made criminally liable.
Firms discovered responsible could be fined as much as $1 million for these offences.
It is usually an offence to threaten to commit these crimes, if the threats are credible, or to assist one other individual evade investigation, prosecution or punishment.
If discovered responsible, accomplices could be fined as much as $500,000, jailed for as much as seven years, or each. These responsible of constructing threats could be fined as much as $500,000, jailed for as much as 10 years, or each.
These amendments pave the way in which for Singapore to accede to the Conference on the Suppression of Illegal Acts Regarding Worldwide Civil Aviation, also called the Beijing Conference 2010, and the Protocol Supplementary to the Conference for the Suppression of Illegal Seizure of Plane, often called the Beijing Protocol 2010.
A Ministry of Transport spokesman stated Singapore will accede to the 2 worldwide treaties “within the coming months”.
The treaties had been first signed in Beijing in 2010 and got here into power in 2018.
There are at the moment 42 events to the 2 treaties, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Baey Yam Keng stated on Monday.
He instructed MPs that the specter of terrorism to Singapore stays excessive as teams such because the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and Al-Qaeda stay resilient.
Mr Baey cited examples of current terror assaults on the civil aviation sector, together with these close to Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in August final 12 months, and assaults close to Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport within the United Arab Emirates earlier this 12 months.
He additionally cited the case of a Kenyan member of Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda’s East African affiliate, who was charged within the US with plotting a 9/11-style assault.
