Exposing Western duplicity over criminal law amendment

WHILE Zimbabwe's promulgation of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act has sparked criticism from Western forces, a similar law has been silently embraced in the United Kingdom, exposing the double standards of the West and its sponsored oppositional forces in the country.

The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act of Zimbabwe and the National Security Act of the United Kingdom are two similar laws, amid deafening silence on the UK law for self-serving objectives given that the essential elements constituting the two laws are the same.

Both laws seek to assert either country's sovereignty by criminalising correspondence with foreign Governments and harm to national interest.

Britain has been vocal in its criticism of Zimbabwe's law during the day, while at night it was busy putting together a similar law which it was publicly denouncing as retrogressive and undemocratic.

The National Security Act creates a host of offences for unpatriotic conduct against its citizens, criminalising, for example, the engagement by its citizens in foreign interference, including interference in the British political system. This happens while Britain arrogantly condemns Zimbabwe's law criminalising wilful conduct that is harmful to the country's sovereignty and national interests, such as conniving with foreign governments to mobilise for unilateral coercive economic sanctions against Zimbabwe such as the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act by the United States of America.

The UK Bill passed by both the House of Commons and House of Lords secured Royal Assent on July 11, 2023 and reads in part: "Make provision about threats to national security from espionage, sabotage and persons acting for foreign powers; about the extra-territorial application of Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 2007."

The UK's Security Minister, Mr Tom Tugendhat, boasted that with this new legislation, the UK is now a harder target for those states who seek to conduct hostile acts against it, which include espionage, foreign interference including its political system, sabotage, and acts that endanger life, such as assassination.

He said the new powers will help ensure that the UK remains the hardest operating environment for the malign activity undertaken by foreign actors.

Said Minister Tugendhat: "We are facing growing threats from foreign states. Over the past years, we have seen attempts to harm our people, damage our economy, and undermine our democracy. The National Security Act overhauls our outdated espionage laws and will provide our law enforcement and intelligence agencies with new and updated tools to deter, detect and disrupt modern-day state threats. For the first time there is an offence of foreign interference, meaning it will now be illegal to engage in conduct that interferes with fundamental rights, such as voting and freedom of speech, that are essential to the UK's democracy.

"These powers will apply to an individual acting on behalf of any state, which means the UK will be better equipped to tackle the full spectrum of malign activity, whether in the form of disinformation, cyber-attacks, electoral interference, or even physical attacks, including the barbaric use of chemical weapons."

Director general of MI5, Ken McCallum weighed in: "We face state adversaries who operate at scale and who are not squeamish about the tactics they deploy to target people and businesses in the UK. The National Security Act is a game-changing update to our powers. We now have a modern set of laws to tackle today's threats.

"The Act also introduces a new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), which criminalises those acting covertly for states which pose the greatest threat to our national security and strengthens the resilience of UK democracy by bringing transparency to foreign political influence."

The United States, the UK's political ally that has also denounced Zimbabwe's law, equally has the Logan Act that criminalises negotiation by unauthorised individuals with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States.

The Logan Act reads as follows: "Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without the authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."

In its criticism of the Zimbabwean law, the British government and those it handles locally had the temerity to distort the import of the law by claiming that it sought to muzzle criticism of the government or its the President.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi set the record straight in Parliament in June while steering the then-proposed law which has since been assented to by President Mnangagwa.

Minister Ziyambi criticised the British House of Lords Parliamentary debate on the Bill, saying their views were misplaced and showed how ignorant they were about the legal provision.

"I want to say that the debate in the British Parliament was totally misplaced. In fact, I am puzzled that they called themselves Lords and Ladies in that House and they debate provisions that are not in the Bill — that if you say something bad about the President, you will be sent to jail. There is no reference to the President in this Bill. I was puzzled when I saw the clip of that debate. How ignorant those individuals in that House can be to the extent of debating and agreeing on something that is not even there when you can actually get this Bill online. Look at it, no reference whatsoever to the President and they say that if you say something about the President you are in trouble. There is no reference to that. I was actually ashamed that they could go that far," said Minister Ziyambi.

Minister Ziyambi said there was nothing amiss about the law which is common in other jurisdictions including the United States.

He said the motivation behind the Bill was due to individuals going outside the country engaging foreign governments, their proxies or agencies discussing issues of trade boycotts or imposition of sanctions whether intended, targeted, or untargeted.

The Act imposes heavy penalties on those that call for sanctions against the country.

The Clause read as follows: "Any citizen or permanent resident of Zimbabwe who, within or outside Zimbabwe, intentionally partakes in any meeting, whose object or one of whose objects the accused knows, or has reasonable grounds for believing involves the consideration of or the planning for the implementation or enlargement of sanctions or a trade boycott against Zimbabwe (whether those sanctions or that boycott is untargeted or targets any individual or official, or class of individuals or officials), but whose effects indiscriminately affect the people of Zimbabwe as a whole, or any substantial section thereof, shall be guilty of wilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe and liable to . . . "

The clause provides penalties that include a fine not exceeding level 12 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years, or both.

Other proposed penalties include termination of the citizenship of the convicted person, if that person is a citizen by registration or a dual citizen, prohibition of being a registered voter for a period ranging between five and 15 years and prohibition of standing for a public office for a prescribed period.

With the law in Zimbabwe's legal statutes, the country is set to continue building its country brick by brick and stone by stone as President Mnangagwa has repeatedly said.