So the Prevention of Terrorism Bill was finally passed and Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta is looking ever more prescient. The controversy of the Bill is mainly concerned with the Control Orders which would allow suspected terrorists, whether a UK national or a non-UK national to have severe restrictions placed upon under the orders of the Home Secretary without trial.
Thanks to the truly excellent website They Work For You the entire epic commons debate is available in an easily read format with much background information. It is split up into a m umber of segments due to the bill being passed back and forth between the Houses of Commons and Lords as amendments to the Bill were suggested and considered.
9th March debates
Prevention of Terrorism Bill (Programme) (No. 3)
Orders of the Day — Prevention of Terrorism Bill
Clause 1 — Power to Make Control Orders
10th March debates
Prevention of Terrorism Bill Debate
Prevention of Terrorism Bill Debate
Prevention of Terrorism Bill Debate
Finally the Bill was agreed upon and given
Royal Assent.
However both the Government and the Opposition are claiming victory due to the Bill being now greatly diminished from what the government wanted and yet it has now passed into law. Whoever claims rightful victory it would seem to me that it is the British public that have lost.
I have not yet been convinced of the necessity of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2005, the government is primarily argued for it’s introduction to counter the threat of the 200 or so terrorists that are loose within our borders.
They fail to mention that of those 200 people most are only suspected of loose affiliation with terrorists i.e. funding or providing safe houses. Intelligence officials have estimated that perhaps only 30-40 individuals would be prepared to kill themselves or others.
In addition it must be said that the police and security services are doing their job in containing these ‘terrorists’. They are clearly known individuals if we have accurate numbers and they are under surveillance. The fact that they have been in the country for years without having been arrested would be an indication that there is no evidence of wrongdoing. They may well have been trained at camps with Al-Qaeda but if they then do nothing at all with that training then they cannot really be considered as terrorists.
The BBC reports that the remaining foreign detainees at Belmarsh were released and that the Home Secretary was issuing control orders under his new powers for each of the former detainees.
The former detainees face bail conditions which include:
* Electronic tagging
* A night-time curfew from 1900 to 0700
* A ban on using mobile phones and the internet
* Obtaining permission from the Home Office if they wish to meet anyone outside their home
* Living at an address notified to the Home Office and police, who can search the property without warning
* No visitors unless the Home Office has been notified in advance, except for under-16s
* Notifying the Home Office of any intended departure from the UK, and the port of embarkation
* Bank account restrictions and sending monthly statements to the Home Office.
And finally at least we are aware that our civil liberties are being eroded unlike the Russian populace, if the newly retired chess genius Garry Kasparov’s assessment is correct.
Tags: security, surveillance, terrorism
