BRITAIN
Britain: Blair proposes new terrorism laws
Stephanie Horovitz, London
31 May 2007
The proposed “anti-terror” laws would allow police to demand people’s names and addresses and question them as to where they have been and where they are going. Those giving unsatisfactory answers could be arrested and fined up to £5000 (about A$12,000). Under current British laws, police already have powers to stop and search people, but not to demand answers to questions or to issue fines for non-compliance. “Stop and question” powers are already in place in Northern Ireland.
The laws have been slammed by MPs, Muslim groups and civil rights organisations. But writing in the May 27 London Sunday Telegraph, Blair claimed that British society’s prioritisation of civil liberties over “fighting terrorism” was “a dangerous misjudgement”.
Although the widespread revulsion at the proposed laws make their passage less likely, police minister Tony McNulty indicated that the legislation would be introduced into parliament in October or November. Past experience shows that it would only take one actual or threatened terrorist incident for substantial opposition to disappear long enough for the legislation to be passed.
Current finance minister Gordon Brown, who is set to replace Blair, distanced himself from the proposals. Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain said that the restrictions could become the domestic equivalent of Guantanamo Bay, according to the May 28 London Times.
While the Police Federation has given a cautious welcome to the new laws, it said that the laws’ relationship to combating terrorism was “abstract”. According to the May 28 Guardian, the police had not requested the increase in powers and one senior officer described the proposal as “bizarre”.
Even more chilling, the May 28 Times reported that the government is setting up a police health unit that would have powers to detain people indefinitely using mental health laws.
Mental health laws are routinely used to detain people when psychiatrists declare that it is necessary to stop a person causing harm to themselves or others. However, the new laws will create a unit staffed by police and psychiatrists, giving rise to the fear that the professional independence of the psychiatrists may be compromised. The laws themselves are also being widened to make it easier for people to be compulsorily detained.
London’s police issued a statement that outlined: “The fixated threat assessment centre is a joint initiative between the [London] Police, Home Office and Department of Health. Its role is to assess, manage and reduce risks and threats from fixated individuals, against people in public life, particularly protected VIPs.”
The human rights group Liberty described this as yet another attack on civil liberties. Spokesperson Gareth Crossman said: “There is a grave danger of this being used to deal with people where there is insufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution. This blurs the line between medical decisions and police actions. If you are going to allow doctors to take people’s liberty away, they have to be independent. That credibility is undermined when the doctors are part of the same team as the police.”
