UK anti-terror proposals face scrutiny in House of Lords News
UK anti-terror proposals face scrutiny in House of Lords

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposed terrorism law [text; BBC backgrounder] faced stiff opposition when it reached the House of Lords [official website] Monday. Conservative leader Lord Strathclyde has vowed peers will look at the controversial legislation on "a line by line basis" and some lords indicated that they will move to include a 90-day detention period for terror suspects. The provision authorizing the detention of terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days was defeated [JURIST report] in the House of Commons [official website] earlier this month after Liberal Democrats and rebel members of the Labour party dismissed Blair's challenge that they had a "duty" to support the police, and instead backed a compromise detention period of 28 days. Under current law [Criminal Justice Act 2003, amending the Terrorism Act 2000], terror suspects can be held for 14 days before they must be either charged or released. Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said Monday that the government will not back any new attempts to raise the time limit back to 90 days. BBC News has more.

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