Accused New Zealand mosque shooter charged with terrorism
Associated PressWELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand police on Tuesday filed a terrorism charge against the man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques. 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 U.S. on Sept. 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 emailed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and others a manifesto outlining his white supremacist beliefs and his detailed plans for the shootings.