• an act causing damage to property belonging to a State or an individual, or the environment, resulting or likely to result in major economic loss. A person commits a terrorist act, as listed above, if the commission of the offence is intended to threaten or coerce the Thai Government, any foreign Government, or an international organisation, to do or abstain from doing any act which causes serious damage, or is intended to raise unrest so as to intimidate a population. The maximum penalty is the death penalty. The sections of the Criminal Code amended by this Decree are primarily section 7 and section 135 of the Criminal Code. Other crimes are also stipulated under the Decree; these include threats to commit a terrorist act, collection of arms and training relating to terrorism, complicity, and membership of a group designated by the UN Security Council Resolution as a terrorist group. The definition of terrorism/terrorist act above follows closely the Draft Terrorism Convention being discussed in the UN at the time of the adoption of the new Thai Law. Other relevant legislation includes the Immigration Act 1979 (as amended). This is an instrument to deport (suspected) terrorists for illegal entry in transnational situations. The Anti-Money Laundering Act 2000 was also amended in 2003 by executive Decree to allow seizure of assets concerning terrorism. Interestingly, in 2003, the Thai parliament referred the two Decrees (concerning the Criminal Code and the Anti-Money Laundering Act) to the Constitutional Court to test their constitutionality. At the beginning of 2004, the Constitutional Court (10 votes in favour, 4 against) ruled that both Decrees were in conformity with the Thai Constitution. The Advisory Council of Jurists observes and recommends that: 1. While national security concerns are important to the country, they need to be balanced with the human rights guarantees in the Thai Constitution and international treaties to which Thailand is a party, as well as customary rules of international law. 125

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