The Law Library of Congress

Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia The Law Library of Congress

Acts of terrorism committed on September 11, 2001, and subsequent international actions caused many countries, including Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, to enhance their counter terrorism policies through amending existing or enacting new laws related to the criminal justice system. All three countries have adopted broad definitions of terrorism, raising concerns that they could include acts of political dissent within the ambit of acts of terrorism. At various points they have also adopted criminal procedure provisions that lowered certain restrictions for investigations of crimes labeled as crimes of terrorism, made the financing of terrorism a separate offense, and required all suspicious financial transactions to be subject to scrutiny by special financial units before they are referred to the competent criminal authorities. In addition, Morocco and Saudi Arabia recognize that there is a religious component to the acts of terrorism committed by many terrorist organizations. They proclaim to have established special programs to seek to address this element of terrorism by means other than the criminal justice system.