(Source) http://nuclear-news.net/2013/10/24/japan-secrecy-act-stirs-fears-about-press-freedom-right-to-know/
…”There is a demand by the established political forces for greater control over the people,” said Lawrence Repeta, a law professor at Meiji University. “This fits with the notion that the state should have broad authority to act in secret.”…
….”This may very well be Abe’s true intention – cover-up of mistaken state actions regarding the Fukushima disaster and/or the necessity of nuclear power,” said Sophia University political science professor Koichi Nakano…..
…”As things stand, the state gets a more or less free hand in deciding what constitutes a state secret and it can potentially keep things secret forever,” Nakano said….
hursday Oct 24, 2013 | Linda Sieg, Kiyoshi Takenaka for Reuters
http://www.newsdaily.com/world/e466e4755f527f25d331e851132684ce/japan-secrecy-act-stirs-fears-about-press-freedom-right-to-know
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is planning a state secrets act that critics say could curtail public access to information on a wide range of issues, including tensions with China and the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
The new law would dramatically expand the definition of official secrets and journalists convicted under it could be jailed for up to five years.
Japan’s harsh state secrecy regime before and during World War Two has long made such legislation taboo, but the new law looks certain to be enacted since Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led bloc has a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament and the opposition has been in disarray since he came to power last December.
Critics see parallels between the new law and Abe’s drive to revise Japan’s U.S.-drafted, post-war constitution to stress citizen’s duties over civil rights, part of a conservative agenda that includes a stronger military and recasting Japan’s wartime history with a less apologetic tone.
Read more »
----------------------------------
(Editor's note) 410,000
items are said to be secrete as of 9/10/13
No comments:
Post a Comment