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| Sunday, 13 March 2005 |
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Britain agrees new anti-terror law, suspects freed LONDON, Saturday (Reuters) Britain hammered controversial anti-terrorism measures into law on Friday as eight foreign terrorist suspects, regarded by the government as among the most dangerous men in the country, walked free on bail. Politicians finally approved Prime Minister Tony Blair's anti-terrorism bill after one of the longest parliamentary sittings in British history - a 30-hour marathon which started on Thursday morning and ran all through the night. A deal was reached after Blair promised to give parliament an opportunity to overhaul the legislation next year. As exhausted politicians left parliament, some of Britain's top terrorism suspects were leaving jail where they had been held without charge or trial for up to three years under old anti-terrorism legislation ruled unlawful by judges last year. A judge ordered their release earlier on Friday on grounds their detention was illegal. Two other terrorist suspects had already been released on similar bail terms, one on Thursday. Just hours after the new law was passed, the Home Office (Interior Ministry) said "control orders", the central component of the legislation, would be imposed immediately on the eight men - described by the government and Britain's most senior police officer as a serious threat to society. The new control orders would be similar to the tough bail terms that had been set - that they wear electronic tags, stay home for 12 hours a day and refrain from pre-arranged meetings. The suspects, all foreign Muslims, included Abu Qatada, a Syrian cleric who the government describes as the spiritual mentor to Mohammed Atta, leader of the hijackers who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. Qatada has been accused of funding and inspiring militants worldwide from his base in London. He was arrested in October 2002 after disappearing in the weeks after Sept. 11. The government accuses him and the other suspects of having links to al Qaeda via militant Muslim groups. "We are talking about individuals where there is a very substantial risk
to the people of this country," Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Charles
Clarke said in Friday's heated debate over the content of the new
anti-terrorism legislation. |
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