LONDON, 13 October 2005 — Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government yesterday published in full the controversial anti-terrorism bill amid growing opposition from MPs, politicians and Muslim leaders.
Blair reiterated yesterday in the House of Commons that there is a “compelling” case for the anti-terror legislation that will allow terror suspects to be held for up to 90 days without being charged and make “glorifying” and “encouraging” terror an offence punishable with seven years’ imprisonment.
Blair defended the controversial provision of the bill: “If the police, charged with fighting terrorism in this country, say to me and to the members of Parliament: ‘This is why we need it’, and that case is a good and compelling case — as I find it is — then my duty is to do it, unless someone can come forward with a very good argument why their case is unsound. I don’t agree that the police would simply bang up anybody they wanted to bang up.”
The publication of the draft anti-terrorism legislation triggered protests. London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) Sir Iqbal Sacranie protested at the Westminster City Hall against the proposed legislation.
“We all need to be vigilant,” stressed Sir Iqbal, “in ensuring that the government’s proposed measures do not jettison fundamental freedoms at the cost of providing little or no guarantee of extra security.”
Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats said there was no “consensus” even within the government’s own ranks over some provisions of the bill. “Why is it that you remain so wedded to this proposal for 90 days? Surely it’s wrong; surely you are going to have to back down,” he told Blair.
He said that he would prefer a change in the law so that suspects could still be questioned even after being charged with an offence. But the prime minister insisted that he believed police needed the powers to protect lives: “What I have to do is to try to do my best to protect people in this country and to make sure their safety and their civil liberty to life come first.”
The publication of the bill also comes on a day when the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician mistakenly shot dead by police a day after the botched July 21 attacks in London, have lodged an official complaint against the Metropolitan Police about alleged misinformation circulated after the shooting.
The family is angry about early reports suggesting that Jean Charles had fled from anti-terror officers and was wearing a bulky jacket which could have hidden an explosive device. At a press conference in London yesterday, before departing for Brazil after a two-week visit paid for by Scotland Yard, Mr de Menezes’ mother, Maria Otone da Silva, and members of her family, repeated their call for the truth about his death and for the officers responsible to face charges.
His mother said: “I’m so sad about what has happened to my son but I feel the English people, everybody wants to have the truth. The police did the wrong job. Of course we have to have justice and the investigation but they did wrong and I hope we find the truth and that they go to prison,” she insisted.
