Another bit of news almost passed unnoticed yesterday: Amnesty International's condemnation of UK's counter-terrorism policies and the new laws.

The first paragraph of its submission to the Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights reads: "Since the 'war on terror' was declared by the US government in 2001, the UK authorities have mounted a sustained attack on human rights, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law."

Do bother and have a look:

 http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR450502005?open&of=ENG-GBR

 http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR450472005?open&of=ENG-GBR

Due to the new nature of terrorism, that of suicide bombings we now need to detain terror suspects for far longer than we ever had to do before. Using intercept as evidence might help, but is not the solution to these problems. The reasons are simple these people, suicide bombers present a threat so profound that as soon as we being to understand they are planning an attack we must disrupt them by arrest. There is no choice. The previous position where we had long months to gather evidence and intellegence is not an option. We have to deal with what we find, which can take weeks and months to understand.

One case involved an encrypted computer, which held the equivalent of 60,000 feet of paper. Was there a vital clue in there somewhere? Yes, but we were fortunate that is was pretty near the beginning, otherwise we would never have found it within the current time limit.

It took us two weeks to enter the bomb factory in Leeds after July 7, let alone analyse it because the scene was so dangerous. Enquires into these case can stretch across the world, everything takes time. What are we to do? Let them go? It is the united view of police chiefs that an extension to 90 days is necessary if we are to defeat those planning further terrorist carnage. That detention must and the police have asked for this, have rigorous scrutiny by a judge, every seven or 14 days, to confirm that continued detention is appropriate.

It is not a power we wish to use frequently. We have noc interest in making Britain a police state. We have no interest in detaining lots of people but do have an interest and a duty to detain some people long enough for us to understand what they are planning in order to protect this country. This is the new reality.

This computer decrypting justification is made up and totally false. Charges can be pressed for failing to decrypt the computer when requested under the Regulatory of Investigative Powers Act.


The Commons vote was about the offence of "indirectly glorifying terrorism, even unintentionally". See it at:

 http://publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2005-11-02&number=74

Note: George Galloway failed to turn up to it. Oops.