Amnesty International - 'Draconian' EU Anti-Terror Laws Target Muslims
The human rights group sounded the alarm over security measures adopted over the past two years in 14 EU nations, including expanded surveillance powers.
During that period, several attacks, mostly claimed by the Daesh terrorist group, have fanned tensions over immigration, fueled the popularity of right-wing parties and made security a key theme in upcoming French, Dutch and German elections, Reuters reported.
"Right across the EU regional space we see Muslims and foreigners being equated with terrorists," said Julia Hall, an Amnesty International expert on counterterrorism and author of the report. "This stereotyping so disproportionately affects these communities that there is a high degree of fear and alienation."
She warned that "draconian" surveillance measures and powers of search, detention and arrest like those introduced in France since November 2015, when attacks killed 130 people, could be abused to target activists or minority groups that did not pose a genuine threat.
Amnesty's report said new measures to crack down on glorifying or being an apologist for terrorism were shrinking the space for freedom of expression.
Amnesty condemned what it dubbed the "Orwellian" use of curfews, travel restrictions and police check-ins to monitor individuals who were not convicted of crimes and often did not know what they were accused of.
Hall criticized what she described as "governments looking at a person and saying: 'You look very suspicious to me. So I'm going to restrict your behavior because I think you might commit a crime.'"
