Philippines: Senate amends the anti-terrorism bill

On 8 and 14 November, the Philippines Senate adopted amendments to the anti-terrorism bill to better comply with international standards of human rights. The amendments removed the death penalty for terrorism, withdrew the granting of law enforcement powers to the military, reduced from 15 days to 5 days the period for detention without judicial authorization of terrorist suspects, and guaranteed the right of terrorist suspects to challenge the legality of surveillance conducted on them. This follows a letter sent by the ICJ to Senators expressing its concerns regarding the original bill.