The British government said Monday that it is considering giving courts the power to try terrorist suspects in secret and without juries -- proposals condemned by civil liberties groups.
Rantburg had an article announcing the proposal in early January.
Home Secretary David Blunkett published a discussion paper outlining changes to existing anti-terrorist laws. They include secret trials in which judges and lawyers would be cleared beforehand by the intelligence services. There is also a proposal to allow judges to convict suspects on a lower standard of proof than in normal criminal trials, where guilt must be proven "beyond reasonable doubt." The proposal would allow judges to convict if they thought "on a balance of probabilities" a suspect was guilty. The civil rights group Liberty said the plans were "wholly unacceptable."
| "We can't accept those plans. We'll go to a different court!" |
"Simply introducing more laws, greater powers and stiffer penalties will go a long way to undermining British justice and will not make our country any safer," said campaigns director Mark Littlewood.
| Seems to me like dumping Captain Hook and Abu Qatada would go a really long way toward making your country safer... |
Blunkett said the threat of suicide terrorist attacks made it necessary to debate ways to "deal with these delicate issues of proportionality and human rights on the one hand and evidential base and the threshold of evidence on the other." Speaking to Britain’s Press Association news agency Sunday during a visit to India, he said authorities needed the power to act on intelligence information while protecting its sources. Blunkett said he hoped to have new legislation in place by the next national election, which must be held by mid-2006.
Will all people incarcerated for suspected terrorist activity be held that long? |