UK terrorism detention proposal violates basic rights Commentary
UK terrorism detention proposal violates basic rights
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Benjamin Ward [Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia division, Human Rights Watch]: "The Home Office announced on December 6 that it will ask Parliament to grant it special powers to extend the 28-day pre-charge detention period in terrorism cases. The proposal would give the Home Secretary the power to authorize the detention of terrorism suspects for up to 42 days, upon the recommendation of the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Parliament would have to approve the power within 30 days and be notified of each individual extension.

The current 28-day limit is already significantly longer than the maximum allowed in comparable legal systems, such as in the United States and Canada, and is by far the longest in the European Union. There is no case to date in which an extension beyond 28 days has been required. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald and former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, have indicated that they regard the current powers as sufficient. Human Rights Watch opposed the extension from 14 days to 28 days under the Terrorism Act 2006 on the basis that it violated the right to liberty. A further extension would compound that violation.

The government has suggested that the new proposal contains strong parliamentary and judicial safeguards. But the power to extend detention beyond 28 days can be used for 30 days before Parliament need approve it, by which time the 42-day time limit could already have expired for some detainees. Parliament is also ill-equipped to review individual cases, a function best performed by the courts. The limited judicial safeguards remain unchanged. To justify continued detention, a judge need only be satisfied that it is necessary to further the investigation, and that the police are acting with due diligence. It is not necessary for the judge to determine whether reasonable grounds exist to believe the individual being detained has committed a terrorist offense.

As a recent Human Rights Watch briefing paper points out, a further extension of detention would create a significant risk of unjust extended detention. According to UK government statistics, over half of all those arrested as part of terrorism investigations since 2001 were released without charge. Were detention further extended, it is highly likely that terrorism suspects, most of them Muslim, would be detained for extended periods and then released without charge. The experience of internment in Northern Ireland and the indefinite detention of foreign terrorism suspects at Belmarsh prison indicate that such measures can sour community relations and undermine cooperation with the police."

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