Gov't: Over 2,000 Terror Suspects in Britain
Pastor Dale Morgan
Gov't: Over 2,000 Terror Suspects in Britain*
Wednesday July 25, 2007 2:46 AM
By DAVID STRINGER
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) - Britain has over 2,000 terror suspects, hundreds more than
was previously thought, a top British official said Tuesday as she urged
lawmakers to extend how long police can hold terror suspects before they
are charged.
The figure cited by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was up from last year's
estimate of 1,600 suspects.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to propose tougher
anti-terrorism laws to parliament, including extending the length of
time terrorist suspects can be held for questioning or possibly
scrapping the time limit altogether.
Brown's suggestions are also likely to include a recommendation to allow
the use of wiretaps in court cases, a practice currently banned in Britain.
In 2005, British lawmakers rejected the government's bid to allow police
to detain suspects without charge for 90 days, forcing it to accept a
compromise of 28 days.
But Smith said since the rule was introduced last year, six suspects had
been questioned up to the 28-day limit, three of whom were charged in
connection with an alleged plot to down U.S.-bound airliners. Three
others were released.
``This all gives us a strong view that the time is right to reconsider
whether we should allow longer than 28 days for pre-charge detention,''
Smith told Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.
Proposals to tighten terror laws follow failed attacks last month, when
a pair of luxury cars packed with gas cylinders and nails were found in
London and two men crashed a Jeep Cherokee loaded with fuel canisters
and gas into security barriers at Glasgow airport's main terminal,
setting it ablaze.
Security officials said the time-consuming nature of the inquiry into
the London and Scotland plots, which involved investigations across
Britain, Iraq, Australia, India and Jordan, also supported the case for
increased custody limits.
Smith said Brown's statement would set out options for proposals to
increase the limit, but will not back any one particular solution.
Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, declined to give details.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said
extending the detention limit would effectively create a new system of
internment, ``the most chilling and counterproductive tool in Britain's
anti-terror history.''
Figures released last week by the Home Office showed that between
September 2001 and March 2007, 1,165 people were arrested under
terrorism laws, but only 241 were charged with terrorism offenses. Of
those, 41 have been convicted in courts and 114 are awaiting trial.
The Home Office said around 200 other offenders had been charged with
criminal offenses not covered by anti-terrorism laws, including murder,
firearms offenses and fraud.
A jury on Tuesday, meanwhile, found four British students guilty of
collecting extremist material that prosecutors argued was intended to
encourage others to die as terrorists.
Three students from Bradford University and London schoolboy Mohammed
Irfan Raja were caught after Raja left a note for his parents saying he
was going to fight abroad.
Raja, 18, had been exchanging material with the others - Aitzaz Zafar,
20, Usman Ahmed Malik, 21, and Akbar Butt, 20 - on the Internet and went
to stay with them in northern England.
He returned home three days later after a tearful conversation with his
parents. They took him to the police.
Police who searched the men's computers found a U.S. military guide
giving instructions on how to make explosive devices and a suicide
bombing manual downloaded from the Internet, as well as chatroom
conversations that encouraged terrorism or martyrdom.
The men denied the charges but a jury found them guilty. Raja said had
only written the letter to frighten his parents because he was unhappy
at home.
The men face a maximum of 10 years in prison when they are sentenced
later this week.