Expanded terror laws require scrutiny in light of terror investigation, civil libertarians say

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Expanded terror laws require scrutiny in light of terror investigation, civil libertarians say

uploaded 13 Aug 2006

By: JENNIFER QUINN,

Published: Aug 12, 2006



Britain's security forces say they have detained the key players in a plot to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners, but they now face considerable scrutiny as the legal process unfolds.



Critics have said a series of blunders including the killing of a man mistaken for a suicide bomber and the shooting of another in a raid that produced no charges, has put the police under pressure and the new investigation will be seen through the prism of previous failures.



What the police need to do, they say, is deliver compelling evidence that will result in convictions particularly since a new law lets suspects be held without charge for as long as four weeks.



"Forget civil libertarians. This whole process is going to be very, very scrutinized by everyone in this country, not just because it's so dramatic but also because there have been a number of operations where public confidence has been undermined," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty. "No doubt the police feel that pressure on them."



Britain doubled the maximum time for interrogating suspects in the wake of the July 7, 2005, bombings, which killed 52 people on London's transit network. Its newest anti-terror legislation, law since the spring, also created new offenses, including preparing a terrorist act, giving or receiving terrorist training, and selling or spreading terrorist publications. Prime Minister Tony Blair failed to receive parliamentary approval for his own plan to interrogate terrorist suspects for up to 90 days.



The British probe of a plot to destroy U.S.-bound jetliners with chemical explosions is the highest-profile case to be conducted under the new legislation.



In June, two brothers were detained after a dawn raid on their home in Forest Gate, east London, by police looking for a chemical bomb. Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, was shot in the shoulder during the raid, during which no explosives were found. After a week of questioning extended after two days both brothers were released without any terrorism charge. Kahar was later arrested on an unrelated matter.



The incident caused anger in London's Muslim community, and police later apologized, while defending the force's need to act on intelligence.



Coupled with the July 22, 2005 death of Jean Charles de Menezes a 27-year-old Brazilian who was shot aboard a subway train when officers mistook him for a suicide bomber there are some who have little faith in the police.



"I think it's fair to say that after the mistakes and bungles in the de Menezes and Forest Gate raids, police have to determine that ... raids are proper and intelligence led," said Asad Rehman, spokesman for the Newham Monitoring Project, which is working with both the family of de Menezes and the Forest Gate brothers.



"At the moment, that seems to be the case. Most people are giving the benefit of the doubt, but we want to see a measured use of force."



Rehman said that the Newham Monitoring Project had opposed Blair's original 90-day proposal, and that the current 28-day period of holding without charge still left them feeling uneasy.



"All it means is that the police operate more in terms of fishing," he said. "It doesn't require the police to have good intelligence it encourages them to raid, and then investigate, instead of the other way around."



Sadiq Khan, a lawmaker from Blair's Labour Party, said that while he voted against the legislation, he believed that police would use the 28 days properly if they asked to detain the suspects that long in the first place.



"All of us accept they should be able to use that period of time to do a robust investigation and make the correct decisions," Khan, one of four Muslim members of Parliament, said. "The most important thing is to do what is just, and what is right."



Britain has already faced similar questions, reacting to a previous terrorist crisis the rise of the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland by imposing an official policy of internment of IRA suspects from 1971-1976.



That policy of incarcerating hundreds of men for months, even years, was judged a failure, because police failed to identify and capture the most senior IRA personnel, while the policy itself fueled Roman Catholic support and recruitment for the IRA.



Source: AP Worldstream

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