Privy councillors call for revoke of internment powers
Home Secretary David Blunkett was up in arms last night after Privy Councillors denounced controversial internment powers allowing foreign terror suspects to be held without charge.
The anti-terror measures, introduced in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 September 11th atrocities in the US, had to be replaced “as a matter of urgency,” a Commons committee led by Lord Newton of Braintree told Mr Blunkett.
They have proffered electronically tagging suspects as a suitable alternative.
Mr Blunkett was urged to change Part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act of 2001, to reduce the risk of miscarriages of justice.
But Mr Blunkett said he would be failing in his duty to protect the public if Part 4 were removed from the “armoury of measures available to protect the United Kingdom from specific terrorist threats.”
And he added that he failed to see how the public would be “adequately protected” by electronic tagging.
The committee’s 120-page report said: “We consider the shortcomings to be sufficiently serious to strongly recommend that the Part 4 powers which allow foreign nationals to be detained potentially indefinitely should be replaced as a matter of urgency.
“Given the novel and contentious nature of these powers, we believe that there should be a continuous proactive effort to manage the individual cases of the suspects with a view to finding alternative ways of dealing with them [such as finding evidence that would support a prosecution].
“We were, therefore, surprised to learn that the authorities appear to have given no thought to what change in circumstances might lead them to conclude that an individual should be released or dealt with differently.”
Moreover, “We are concerned that there has not been a sufficiently proactive, focused, case management approach to determining whether any particular suspected international terrorist should continue to be detained under Part 4. Nor did it appear that alternative ways of dealing with them were under active consideration.”
The committee called for terror suspects to be prosecuted under domestic criminal law.
Last night, Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said the powers were right and timely as the UK was still facing “a real and serious threat.’
“We didn’t bring these measures in lightly, we brought them in in response to the international situation and we believe that these powers are still necessary.
“We believe that the detention powers for the tiny minority of people who do pose a real threat but we can’t deport, and they chose not to leave, continues to be necessary.’
Seventeen people who have been interned under the powers.
