Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday his government wants new anti-terror laws as he accused the courts and parliament of wrongly stressing the rights of suspects over national security.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Blair argued that the disappearance last week of three terror suspects under a form of house arrest resulted from British society's mixed-up priorities rather than from government mistakes.
"The fault is not with our services or, in this instance, with the Home Office (interior ministry). We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first," he wrote.
"I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong," said Blair.
Blair recalled that Britain adopted anti-terror laws after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States that allowed the police to detain foreign terror suspects even if they lacked evidence to prosecute them.
Such detentions freed up police resources to watch British nationals who might pose a threat, he said.
But, he added, the courts struck down the laws and forced the government instead to use "control orders," a form of house arrest that restricts the movements and communications of suspects, whether foreign or British nationals.
Although they were "better than nothing," he said, they were "much weaker than we wanted, perpetually diluted by (parliamentary) opposition amendments, constantly attacked on civil liberty grounds."
Now Lamine and Ibrahim Adam, aged 26 and 20, and Cerie Bullivant, 24, went on the run after failing to report to police Tuesday, as required by the control orders.
The Adams pair are the brothers of Anthony Garcia, 25, who was imprisoned last month for his role in a fertiliser bomb plot aimed at attacking targets in London and across Britain.
Blair also complained that the courts have blocked the government from deporting foreign nationals engaged in or inciting extremism because of fears the country they return to might torture or abuse them.
And he regretted that a vote in parliament defeated government efforts to support police requests to detain a suspect without charge for up to 90 days.
Blair, who leaves office on June 27 when he hands over to finance minister Gordon Brown, also said the government will publish new proposals on anti-terror laws in "the next few weeks."
The Sunday Times said British police could be given powers to stop and question anyone for the first time throughout Britain under the new laws the Home Office is preparing.
The newspaper said anyone who refused to cooperate could be charged with obstructing the police and fined up to 5,000 pounds (nearly 10,000 dollars).
"We are considering a range of measures for the bill and 'stop and question' is one of them," a Home Office spokeswoman said.
The police currently have the power to stop and search individuals on "reasonable grounds for suspicion" that they have committed an offence but have no rights to ask for their identity and movements.
The Blair government stepped up its approach to terrorism after September 11, 2001 and again after four British-born Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 commuters and injured hundreds of others in London on July 7, 2005.
Comments
Comments are closed.