[JURIST] British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday defended a controversial law allowing the detention of foreign terror suspects without charge or trial even in the face of a House of Lords ruling that the law is contrary to European human rights laws. The Lords ruled against the detention provisions 8-1 in a highly-publicized decision [PDF] on December 16. Speaking to the BBC, Blair warned against complacency, saying "The fear I have is what happens if the security services are telling us these people are a threat, we allow them to walk the street and then they end up killing large numbers of innocent people." The Blair government has not yet formally indicated what it will do legislatively in the wake of the ruling, although it appears to have rejected the option of releasing prisoners illegally detained. Listen to the full interview with Blair from BBC Radio 4's Today program here. The London Times has more.