UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche “C. Beccaria” Dottorato di ricerca di Scienze Giuridiche "Cesare Beccaria" Curriculum Diritto Penale e Processuale Penale XXXI ciclo THE INTERNET AND TERRORISM EXPRESSION CRIME WHERE IS THE NEW BOUNDARY? Diritto penale (IUS/17) Relatore: Prof. Gian Luigi Gatta Correlatore: Prof. Francesco Viganò Tesi di Laurea di: Yan DONG Matr. R11316 Anno Accademico 2018/2019 Abstract The main purpose of this thesis is to figure out the new boundary of terrorism expression crime in the internet age. Before answering this question, it provided the empirical evidence of how terrorists are radicalized by the terrorism propaganda online and proposed a new theoretical framework to explain this phenomenon. Accordingly, how the legal framework evolved during the past years to combat this phenomenon was reviewed. By comparing the national laws and typical boundary cases in the Supreme Court of the US, the UK and Italy, it finally proposed some suggestions for Chinese criminal justice system to find a balancing roadmap in terms of combating modern terrorism expression offenses while protecting freedom of expression, taking considerations of the constitutional context in different countries. October 2018 Milan 1 1. Introduction ···································································································································· 4 2. The role of Internet and modern terrorism ····················································································· 5 2.1. The young foreign fighters .......................................................................................................... 6 2.1.1 The case of the youngest suicide bomber in the UK ................................................. 6 2.1.2 ISIS is alluring a younger generation of foreign fighters through the internet .......... 7 2.1.3 Penetration of the internet among the young ........................................................... 10 2.2. The women who travelled to Syria and Iraq ............................................................................. 16 2.2.1 The case of Lady Jihad in Italy ............................................................................... 16 2.2.2. Women influenced by ISIS‘ modern ―black propaganda‖ strategy ........................ 18 2.2.3 Women‘s strengthened role in terrorism recruitment through the internet .............. 20 2.3. The lone wolves ........................................................................................................................ 23 2.3.1. The case of a serial lone wolf in France ................................................................. 23 2.3.2 The internet facilitates lone-wolf attacks ................................................................ 24 3. A theoretical framework of the function of information and communication in modern terrorism30 3.1 Theories of information and communication mechanism in terrorism ...................................... 32 3.1.1 The communicative theories of terrorism ............................................................... 32 3.1.2. The triangle of Terrorism- Radicalized Victim-Target ........................................... 34 3.2 Information manipulation on individuals: taking ISIS as an example ....................................... 36 3.2.1. Emotional manipulation: pursuing the subservience of people at the cost of ruining human dignity and the right to life ...................................................................... 36 3.2.2. Behavioral manipulation: enlarging a group by fabricating and eschewing information ....................................................................................................................... 39 3.2.3. Cognitive manipulation: indoctrinating and training youths regardless of their physical and mental well-being ........................................................................................ 40 3.3 Turing people into tools of terror dissemination ........................................................................ 43 3.3.1. The priority of disseminating the terror message by self-reporting ....................... 43 3.3.2. The incitement speech: impetus of the terror spreading ―machine‖ ....................... 44 3.3.3. The echoes of glorification: maintaining the continuance of terror attacks ........... 47 4. The political and legal frameworks for combating modern terrorism from 2001 to 2017 at UN and European level ··························································································································· 50 4.1 The introduction of legal and political frameworks within the UN system and the European institutions ........................................................................................................................................ 52 4.2. The UN and EU legal framework from 2001 to 2010 ............................................................... 55 4.2.1. UN Resolution 1373(2001), 1624 (2005), EU Framework Decision 2002 and the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (2005) ........................... 55 4.2.2. UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy 2006, EU Framework Decision 2008 and UN Resolutions 1963 (2010) ........................................................................................... 62 4.3 The UN, EU and OSCE legal and political frameworks to respond to foreign fighters and their recruitment from 2011 to 2017......................................................................................................... 70 4.3.1. The UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy implementation reports, UN Resolutions 2170(2014) and 2178(2014) ......................................................................... 73 4.3.2. The EU legal Framework updates and OSCE recommendations ........................... 82 5. Terrorism expression crimes with the use of the internet in the jurisprudence of the US, the UK 2 and Italy ··········································································································································· 89 5.1. The incitement to terrorism offenses in the US jurisprudence .................................................. 89 5.1.1. The Material Support for Terrorism Statute and its constitutional review by the Supreme Court ................................................................................................................. 90 5.1.2. The interpretation of US v. Mehanna in the Supreme Court: ―indirect connection‖, intermediate theory and the ―real coordination‖ standard ................................................ 98 5.2. The terrorist possession offense in the UK jurisprudence ....................................................... 102 5.2.1. Section 57 and 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and parliament‘s ambiguous intention ......................................................................................................................... 104 5.2.2. The narrow constructions on ―likely to be useful‖ and ―reasonable excuse‖: different interpretations between 1996 and 2009 ........................................................... 106 5.3 The glorification of terrorism offense in the Italian Jurisprudence .......................................... 112 5.3.1. Article 414 of the Italian criminal law code, its constitutional review and the ―concrete danger‖ standard before 2015 ........................................................................ 114 5.3.2. The case of Halili El Mahdi, the current ―concrete danger‖ standard and the changing criminal policy ................................................................................................ 117 6. Combating modern terrorism in China: compared conclusions and future developments ········· 121 6.1. Historical terrorism issue background, modern terrorism and its exhaustive criminalization in China .............................................................................................................................................. 121 6.2. A broader sanction scope on modern terrorism expression crimes in Chinese courts ............. 126 6.3. Conclusions: the roadmap for China‘s criminal justice system to protect freedom of expression130 Reference ······································································································································· 136 3 1. Introduction Since the 9/11 event in 2001, the form of terrorism attacks had been evolved along with the growth of ISIS, the increased penetration of internet and the globalization process. The internet had facilitated different types of terrorists‘ attacks and made individuals to became radicalized into lone-wolves and foreign terrorist fighters. Part II of this thesis figured out some empirical evidence of this phenomena and Part III elaborated how theories of communicative theories and triangle of terrorism-radicalization victim-target could be applied to explain these currernt phenomena. Part IV reviewed how the legal and political framework had changed to confront the new form of terrorism crimes with the use of internet. It had made the question of ―where is the new boundary of terrorism expression crimes‖ an important inquiry in jurisprudences of different countries. Part V in this study explored how far terrorism expression offenses are criminalized in the US, the UK and Italy and analyzed the underlying rations and related theories derived from the typical cases in the Supreme