Brown signals hardline stance against terror suspects
Sunday, 3 June 2007
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Gordon Brown is preparing tough new powers against terror suspects, including a review of the ban on phone tap evidence in court. He is to ask a committee of the UK's most eminent politicians to look again at whether secret recordings can be used to convict terrorists.
The move comes after the House of Lords voted to allow intercept evidence to be used in court cases involving serious crime.
Civil liberty campaigners have argued for the move, as telephone intercept evidence would allow terrorist suspects to be put on trial rather than being held under house arrest. The Privy Council review, ordered by Mr Brown, would consider how to balance the need to protect covert sources and bring more terror cases to court.
In a sign that as Prime Minister he will take a hard-line stance on policing, Mr Brown yesterday indicated he wants to increase from 28 days the time that terrorist suspects can be detained without charge. The attempt to increase the limit to 90 days in 2005 led to the government's first defeat in the Commons. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are expected to oppose any move to increase the time limit.
The Chancellor will try to convince MPs by offering Parliament and the judiciary more powers to oversee detentions. He will allow the courts to review such detentions weekly and introduce an independent review process and annual reports to Parliament to boost accountability.
In further signs that a Brown government would increase powers to combat terrorism, Mr Brown plans to lift the ban on questioning suspects once terrorist charges have been brought. He will also boost the security budget and make terrorism an aggravating factor to allow judges to impose longer prison terms.
Speaking to Labour supporters in Glasgow yesterday, the Chancellor said he wanted to improve accountability to Parliament.
"Anti-terror methods must be more sophisticated, with earlier intervention. That is why I support an increase in the length of detention to build up evidence across nations, and I support post-charge questioning with an increase in police resources.
"But because we believe in the civil liberties of the individual we must also strengthen accountability to Parliament and independent bodies overseeing the police, not subjecting people to arbitrary treatment," he said. "We must recognise there is a group of people we must isolate who are determined to attack."
Further reading: 'Al-Qaeda:The True Story of Radical Islam' by Jason Burke
