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Brown Proposes Tough Anti-Terror Measures
By Jane Perlez
International Herald Tribune
July 25, 2007Taking an early firm stand on terror, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Parliament on Wednesday that his government would establish a highly visible uniformed border police force that would patrol airports and seaports, a proposal that the Conservatives have long supported. In a wide-ranging package of anti-terror measures that stressed security over winning the hearts of Britain's Muslim population, Brown said he wanted to extend the period that terror suspects can be held for questioning without charge. In the longer run, he said, Britain would require biometric visas for all visa applicants after March 2008. A system of electronic screening to be introduced as soon as possible would enable border officials to check passports of people entering and leaving Britain in real time against a "warnings index" database, he said.
"Our country - and all countries - have to confront a generation-long challenge to defeat Al Qaeda-inspired terror violence," Brown said in the House of Commons. He said there had been 15 attempts to attack Britain since The September 11, 2001, attacks and the time had come for sterner procedures.
Some of the proposals, in particular the extension of time for questioning of suspects held without charge from 28 days to 56 days, had been floated by the government before the Wednesday speech. But the plan for the border patrol police, which would combine immigration and customs officers, came as a surprise. It appeared designed to show that Brown meant business in reinforcing Britain's security measures and to take something from Conservative Party policy.
The Conservative Party spokesman on security, David Davis, in an article in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday criticized the governing Labour party for what he called its plans to introduce new laws rather than bring about immediate operational measures. The Conservatives proposed a border police five years ago. The new border patrol would be implemented "very soon" after a report is delivered to the government about how to go about the amalgamation of the various services that will make up the force, he said.
In explaining his decision to call for a longer period of detention for terror suspects held without charge, Brown said that in the past year six suspects had been held for 27 days, one day short of the maximum 28 days. Three of those suspects were held in connection with the plot last year to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners heading for the United States. Three others were released without charge. The complexity facing investigators in terror plots that often involve multiple false identities, thousands of mobile phone records and analyzing computer hard drives justified an extension to 56 days, Brown said.
Civil liberties groups, defense lawyers and British Muslim organizations oppose the extension of time for questioning, arguing that it represents a sharp erosion of individual rights. "Twenty eight days is already too long," said Louise Christian, a senior partner in Christian Khan, a law firm that specializes in defending terror suspects. "It should never have gone to 14. It used to be seven days." She accused the British police whose main lobbying organization has called for indefinite detention for questioning of terror suspects of being "allowed to play an undemocratic lobbying role."
Figures released by the Home Office recently showed that between September 11, 2001, and March this year, 1,228 people were arrested on suspicion of terror offenses. Of those, 669 were released without charge. The data also showed that only 241 had been charged with offenses under terrorism legislation.
In outlining his plans for the longer time for questioning, Brown also said he would consider going as far as 90 days, but he indicated this was not his first choice. Among his other anti-terror proposals, Brown said his government had set aside £70 million, or $144 million, for local councils to set up programs to teach citizenship skills and the English language to Muslim clerics. The prime minister said that the government would fund a BBC Arabic channel, apparently as a way for Britain to get its message to the Middle East. Similarly, the government would fund an editorially independent Farsi language station for the people of Iran.
Brown's speech in the House of Commons came after a failed terror attack in London and Glasgow marred his first days in office as prime minister. In that attack, seven people all living in Britain, were detained for questioning. Three were charged: a British born Iraqi doctor, Bilal Abdulla; a Jordanian-born doctor, Mohammed Asha; and an Indian born doctor, Sabeel Ahmed. Three others were released, and the other man, Kafeel Ahmed, who police say drove a burning vehicle into the arrivals hall at Glasgow Hospital, remains in a hospital with severe burns.
Longer periods for interrogation of terror suspects is a hot-button issue in Britain, where some people believe such measures recall the policy of internment by the British security forces against the Irish Republican Army and its sympathizers. In early 2005, the Blair government tried to pass legislation calling for 90 days for interrogation and was defeated in that effort. This time, however, specialists in terrorism said that the Brown government appeared to have solidified its own support within the Labour Party on most of the anti-terror measures.
The Brown government hopes that there can be a compromise within his own party and right across the political spectrum, said Sajjan Gohel, director of Asia-Pacific Foundation, a security group. "For that reason there is an expectation that with the Labour Party firmly behind Brown, the government may be able to successfully introduce some of the legislation, even if the opposition parties oppose parts of it," Gohel said.
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