A controversial bill to penalize the planning of serious crimes passed through the House of Representatives on Tuesday with a majority vote from ruling parties, despite opposition protests citing possible abuses of power by law enforcement authorities.
After clearing the lower house, the "conspiracy bill" is expected to be sent to the House of Councillors, or upper house, on Wednesday, with the ruling bloc seeking its passage during the ongoing Diet session through June 18.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government says the bill to revise the law on organized crime is a prerequisite for ratifying the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which Japan signed in 2000, and a necessary measure to protect the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics from possible terrorist attack.
Following a suspected terrorist explosion Monday at a concert venue in Britain that killed 22 people, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference, "To fight organized crime in and outside of Japan, closer cooperation with other countries will be extremely important. I hope the bill will be enacted as soon as possible."
But opponents, including legal experts, argue the bill could be applied to ordinary citizens, leading to excessive surveillance and abuses of civil rights. Three similar bills failed to clear the Diet due to such concerns.
About 40 protesters gathered around the Diet building in Tokyo, with some handing out leaflets to seek the abolishment of the bill and others putting up banners objecting to it.
"The government uses the Olympics and countermeasures against terrorism as an excuse, but the bill in reality aims to suppress protests (of civic groups). I'd like to block its passage at any cost," said Nobumoto Sekine, a 70-year-old resident of Hino, Tokyo.
While the three aborted bills proposed to introduce a charge of conspiracy, the latest one renamed it as "preparations for terrorism or similar acts."
Those bills were intended to cover broader "groups," but the new one stipulates the legislation applies to "organized criminal groups."
The proposed charge would apply to groups of two or more people found to have planned one of 277 listed crimes, with at least one of them having made specific preparations such as checking out a location.
