"The government has today laid an order to renew the
existing 28-day maximum period of pre-charge detention for a time-limited
period of six months," Home Secretary Theresa May said in a statement.
The 28-day detention measure must be renewed annually or it
expires.
"It is vital that we support the police and other
agencies in their work to keep us safe from terrorism ... At the same time ...
we are also committed to safeguarding the rights and liberties of the
public," May said.
She said pre-charge detention would be included in a review
of counter-terrorism legislation ordered by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.
The review is due to report to Parliament in the autumn.
"Both parties in the coalition are clear that the
28-day maximum period should be a temporary measure and one that we will be
looking to reduce over time," May said.
Civil rights group Liberty urged the coalition to reduce the
28-day ceiling and called for the scrapping of "control orders," a
type of house arrest which has formed a central plank of Britain's
counter-terrorism measures in recent years.
"The coalition has bound itself together with the
language of civil liberties. Now it must reduce the longest pre-charge
detention period of any Western democracy," said Liberty Director Shami
Chakrabarti.
The previous Labour government was dogged by controversy
over both pre-trial detention for terrorism suspects and control orders.
After suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport
networks in July 2005, then Prime Minister Tony Blair pushed for an increase in
the pre-charge detention period for terrorism suspects to 90 days from 14,
saying the security services needed more time to question suspects.
Labour MPs rebelled, dealing Blair the first House of
Commons defeat of his premiership and Parliament settled on a compromise 28
days.
When Gordon Brown became prime minister in 2007 he tried
again to extend the pre-charge detention period in terrorism cases to 42 days,
but suffered a resounding defeat in the House of Lords.
Both the Conservatives and Lib Dems, in opposition,
criticized Labour's plans to extend pre-charge detention.
The Lib Dems, who are particularly strong on civil
liberties, called in their May 6 election manifesto for the scrapping of
control orders and for pre-charge detention to be limited to 14 days.
Liberty said no one had been held for more than 14 days
without charge in Britain since Labour dropped its plan to raise the ceiling in
October 2008.
