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May 22, 2019

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NZ mosque deaths: New terrorism charge filed

Source: AP | 00:14 UTC+8 May 22, 2019 | Print Edition

New Zealand police yesterday filed a terrorism charge against the man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques.

Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, was already facing murder and attempted murder charges from the March 15 shootings.

The new charge comes with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment upon conviction and will be a test case for New Zealand’s terrorism law, which came onto the books in 2002 following the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001.

The New Zealand law defines terrorism as including acts that are carried out to advance an ideological, political or religious cause with the intention of inducing terror in a civilian population.

Just before the attacks, Tarrant e-mailed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and others a manifesto outlining his white supremacist beliefs and his detailed plans for the shootings. From the outset, Ardern has described the attacks as terrorism.

A judge last month ordered that Tarrant undergo mental health assessments to determine if he’s fit to stand trial.

His next court hearing has been scheduled for June 14 and the mental-health findings could determine whether he is required to enter a plea at that point.

During the attacks, 42 people were killed at the al-Noor mosque, seven were killed at the Linwood mosque and two died later in hospitals.

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