124 Report of the Eminent Jurists Panel on terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights • The principle of independent and impartial courts (including the practice of using special or military courts to try terrorism cases); • Fair trial and its component elements. 2. Criminal Law 2.1 Definitions in law of terrorism In the wake of 9/11, the Security Council of the United Nations required that terrorist acts (including the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts), be established in the domestic law of Member States as serious criminal offences, and that the punishment should reflect the seriousness of such acts.302 Various Member States reacted by introducing new or special legislation, and did so, often at great speed and with minimal legislative scrutiny or debate. The Panel was told at its Hearings of a flurry of new laws that introduce broad definitions of terrorism and a wide range of new ancillary or inchoate terrorist offences, often accompanied by special rules for investigation and/or trials of such offences. In the intervening seven years, some of these laws have extended well beyond the original intention of targeting terrorists, and now are being used against “ordinary” criminals, political opponents, dissenters, and members of minority communities. The Panel heard many people at the Hearings question both the necessity for, and the use to which special criminal laws on terrorism are being put.303 In virtually all of the Hearings, witnesses commented on the vague and over-broad definitions surrounding the concept of terrorism or terrorist acts in domestic law. The Panel heard of controversies in this regard with respect to a number of countries, including Algeria, Australia, Chile, Egypt, Germany, India, Jordan, the Maldives, Morocco, Tunisia, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, and the UK. At the Brussels Hearing, participants also criticised as too broad the definition of terrorist offence in the 2002 Council of the European Union’s Framework decision on combating terrorism (hereinafter: EU Council Framework Decision).304 There was criticism at both the Northern Africa and Middle East Hearings about the broad definition of terrorism in the 1998 Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism.305 This latter definition, sometimes in an even broader form, has been incorporated 302 UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001), adopted on 28 September 2001, UN Doc. S/RES/1373 (2001), para. 2(e). 303 For example, at the EJP East Africa Hearing, many participants expressed the view that new anti-terrorism laws have been proposed or enacted largely because of foreign pressure rather than because existing laws are inadequate. 304 Council of the European Union, Council Framework Decision 2002/475 on combating terrorism (hereinafter: EU Council Framework Decision), 2002/475/JHA, 13 June 2002. 305 Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, adopted by the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior and the Council of Arab Ministers of Justice, Cairo, April 1998.