Brushing aside outcries from the opposition camp, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition rammed a contentious bill to criminalize conspiracy through the Diet Thursday morning, achieved by resorting to a rare tactic of bypassing committee-level approval.
The enactment of the revised anti-organized crime law came amid staunch criticism that it could curtail civil liberties such as the right to privacy, upending a long-standing principle in the nation's criminal law that one can only be punished after committing a crime.
At the same time, it was a triumphant moment for Abe, who has spent the bulk of the ordinary Diet session touting the bill as a much-needed boost to Japan's counterterrorism capability.
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