Humiliation of terrorism victims: is human dignity becoming a ‘National Security Tool’?

How does dignity of terrorism victims find a place in the challenging balance between freedom of expression and national security? This chapter addresses the issue by examining how humiliation of terrorism victims is dealt with, from a legal point of view, in a few selected Western European countries. In particular, in some cases, ‘glorification offences’ encompass not only behavior such as the encouragement, praise, propaganda and exaltation of past terrorist acts, but they may also include (expressly, in some jurisdictions, for example Spain) the humiliation and contempt of victims of terrorism and/or their families. On the one hand, these limitations of speech aim at protecting victims’ dignity; on the other hand, they pave the way for potential abuses. More clearly, while freedom of expression is traditionally conceived as one of the main tools to guarantee human dignity, here, on the contrary, speech could entail gross violations of human dignity, since it humiliates terrorism victims and their relatives already affected by the terrorist violence. Consequently, by punishing the humiliation of terrorism victims, lawmakers protect human dignity, but, at the same time, act to reinforce national security. Therefore, a sort of ‘triangulation’ of the interests at stake can be envisaged, with the risk of functionalising the protection of human dignity to securitarian policies. This research aims to draw some guidelines in order to avoid such abuses and maintain limitations to freedom of expression within the constraints of the rule of law, whose essence should not be reshaped by the need to fight terrorism

Role of the group B antigen of Streptococcus agalactiae a peptidoglycan-anchored polysaccharide involved in cell wall biogenesis: a Peptidoglycan-Anchored Polysaccharide involved in cell wall biogenesis

Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B streptococcus, GBS) is a leading cause of infections in neonates and an emerging pathogen in adults. The Lancefield Group B carbohydrate (GBC) is a peptidoglycan-anchored antigen that defines this species as a Group B Streptococcus. Despite earlier immunological and biochemical characterizations, the function of this abundant glycopolymer has never been addressed experimentally. Here, we inactivated the gene gbcO encoding a putative UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate:lipi​dphosphate transferase thought to catalyze the first step of GBC synthesis. Indeed, the gbcO mutant was unable to synthesize the GBC polymer, and displayed an important growth defect in vitro. Electron microscopy study of the GBC-depleted strain of S. agalactiae revealed a series of growth-related abnormalities: random placement of septa, defective cell division and separation processes, and aberrant cell morphology. Furthermore, vancomycin labeling and peptidoglycan structure analysis demonstrated that, in the absence of GBC, cells failed to initiate normal PG synthesis and cannot complete polymerization of the murein sacculus. Finally, the subcellular localization of the PG hydrolase PcsB, which has a critical role in cell division of streptococci, was altered in the gbcO mutant. Collectively, these findings show that GBC is an essential component of the cell wall of S. agalactiae whose function is reminiscent of that of conventional wall teichoic acids found in Staphylococcus aureus or Bacillus subtilis. Furthermore, our findings raise the possibility that GBC-like molecules play a major role in the growth of most if not all beta –hemolytic streptococci