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| Britain Puts New Anti-Terror Law Into Effect |
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| timbuktu |
| 03/12/05 at 09:39:16 |
| [slm] [center][size=4]Britain Puts New Anti-Terror Law Into Effect[/center][/size] LONDON, March 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – No sooner had the British parliament passed the controversial anti-terror bill, than Home Secretary Charles Clarke signed control orders Saturday, March 12, to restrict the movements of 10 foreign terror suspects under the new legislation. The recently released men will be confined to their private addresses and must observe a 7:00 pm to 7:00 am curfew, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). They will also wear an electronic tagging device, have no access to mobiles phones or the Internet and will be allowed only limited outside contacts. Nine of the men were released from Belmarsh high-security custody on Thursday and Friday, while the 10th has been remanded on bail for health reasons and confined to his home since last April. The new legislation gives Home Secretary Charles Clarke the power to issue the so-called control orders as long as a high court judge is able to confirm them within seven days, Britain’s daily The Guardian reported on Saturday. The suspects will be given a Home Office telephone number to ring so they could ask for permission before meeting anybody outside their homes. They will only be able to make “health, educational and welfare” appointments with the prior approval of the Home Office. Controversial Law The new orders apply under the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Bill which Prime Minister Tony Blair's government finally pushed through parliament Friday, March 12, following a two-day, round-the-clock debate and tussle with the upper house. The parliamentary ping pong had been to find a balance between ensuring maximum national security against a perceived major threat of terrorism and preserving citizens' liberties. An independent monitor will be appointed to oversee the new law and will early next year publish its first report before the counter-terrorism bill is introduced into the Commons, according to The Independent. The House of Lords had repeatedly tried to change the law to make it automatically expire within a year through a so-called “sunset clause”. Blair said that this would seriously undermine the measure, because it “would send a signal of weakness at the very time we should be sending a signal of strength.” However, in the end the government partly backed down by promising a major parliamentary review of the law in a year, which satisfied opponents, while the opposition agreed to drop demands for a higher standard of proof, paving the way for the anti-terror bill to be passed by both houses. On March 8, the Lords voted against the new law with peers accusing Blair of playing politics and toying with the country’s civil liberties. British Muslims were infuriated by statements from Home Office Minister Hazel Blears and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that the Muslim minority will be the main target of the new legislation. Muslims have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by police for no apparent reason other than being Muslim, citing the routine stop-and-search operations. Senior British parliamentarians admitted last August that anti-terrorism laws are being used “disproportionately” against the Muslim minority. The government had been desperate to push through the control orders to replace an earlier law authorizing the indefinite detention without charges of foreign terror suspects, which was recently ruled illegal by the House of Lords. http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-03/12/article03.shtml |
| 03/12/05 at 09:43:30 |
| timbuktu |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |