MPs ready to fight Brown’s terror laws

By Tom Mellen

Morning Star, 16 November 2007

DETERMINED MPs from across the political spectrum prepared to fight Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plans to extend detention without trial to 58 days on yesterday.

Mr Brown has declared that he believes that a cross-party consensus can be found on the issue. But the Tories, Liberal Democrats and many Labour MPs are opposed to any extension of internment beyond the 28-day compromise that was agreed after former premier Tony Blair was defeated in the Commons in 2005 over proposals for a 90-day limit.

Back then, 49 Labour rebels voted against the government. Mr Brown enjoys a working majority of 69 seats in the Commons. If he can win the backing of some Northern Irish parties, over 40 Labour MPs would have to rebel to save traditional British liberties.

Socialist Campaign Group chairman John McDonnell MP reported that “the opposition within Labour ranks to these ‘fortress Britain’ proposals remains the same as in 2005. It has certainly not decreased.”

Under the government’s latest proposals, detention without charge beyond 28 days could only be triggered in “exceptional circumstances” agreed in advance by Parliament. This would include cases where there are “multiple plots or links with multiple countries or exceptional levels of complexity.” It would also require the Home Secretary’s agreement and the extension of the powers would be time-limited. There have already been assurances about greater judicial approval and parliamentary scrutiny.

But Mr McDonnell described the new plans as, “in effect, no different from the old ones. “Mr Brown’s claim to be concerned about our civil rights has been undermined in practice by his attacks on basic human rights. He now has a significant battle on his hands,” Mr McDonnell warned.

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“In recent years, anti-terror legislation, coupled with a multi-fold increase in stop-and-search rates, hundreds of false raids and detentions, control orders that are based on flimsy evidence and inconsistent judicial sentences have created a sense of suspicion, fear, intimidation, distrust and possibly even hatred throughout society. And not only within the Muslim community for whom these measures seem to have been designed, but throughout society as a whole….

“How would a person feel if they saw their street cordoned off at dawn by the anti-terror squad who then move to blast into their neighbour’s house and drag one or two people out handcuffed and blindfolded? … How should we view Atif Siddique, charged with possessing material (downloadable from the internet) being handed an eight-year prison sentence when Robert Cottage, formerly of the BNP and found with what was described as the largest haul of chemical explosives, a rocket launcher and a nuclear biological suit, was jailed for quarter of that term?

“What of Samina Malik, or the ‘lyrical terrorist’, who wrote silly and childish poems glorifying terrorism on the back of WH Smith receipts and who now expects to be handed a prison sentence following a media frenzy, and is seen and described in the same light as the DVLA bomber, Miles Cooper?

“The UK already has the longest pre-charge detention period in the western world and, by all accounts, it doesn’t seem to be working. What is required is a new and creative line of thinking as to what mistakes have been committed and how new approaches can be adopted so that the fight for our collective security, safety and prosperity, can become a common ambition of everyone who lives in this country. That would be a way of life worth fighting for.”

Anas Altikiriti at Comment is Free, 16 November 2007

“What about Malik’s documents, the ‘records’ key to her conviction? Reports mention three – a service manual for a rifle, a jihadist text called ‘Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places’, and the Mujahideen Poisons handbook. It took me five minutes of Googling to get hold of them. The jihadist text turns out to be a fatwa by Osama bin Laden. Verso include it in a published collection of his speeches. Interest in the 7.62mm Dragunov sniper rifle implies, I suppose, that you have one. Or that you think guns are cool. The poisons handbook is a 23-page pamphlet summarising a lot of public-domain information. There’s a certain transgressive glamour to this material, and perhaps it indicates unhealthy interests, but I doubt that, if the possessor weren’t a self-declared jihadi sympathiser with a security pass at Heathrow, anyone would find it significant. Presumably an irreligious thirtysomething author can still read what he wants? Or should I really expect a knock on the door?”

Hari Kunzru in the Guardian, 15 November 2007

“Many Irish Catholics across the UK supported, funded, harboured and cheered on the IRA men of violence. Some were passive supporters, thought bedfellows. I do not recall any collective punishment being meted out in the way we see with Muslims today. Nor was anyone tried and convicted for thinking the terrorists were right….

“Using the war on terror, our state is now ready to bend all citizens to its will. But remember unacceptable tactics approved for use on us Muslims today will be used on others tomorrow. And the terrorists will have achieved their biggest ambition – the death of British democracy.”

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the Independent, 12 November 2007

The case of the “Lyrical Terrorist” shows how far our freedom has been eroded by recent legislation, argues Inayat Bunglawala. He writes:

“There would appear to be something preposterously wrong with our criminal justice system if nearly five years after the Iraq war was launched and hundreds of thousands of wholly unnecessary deaths later, Tony Blair is able to just walk away from his responsibility for the ongoing carnage and unbelievably emerge as a Peace Envoy to the region, while a foolish young woman who did not harm anyone now faces a maximum 10-year term in prison for what can only be described as a thought crime.”

Comment is Free, 12 November 2007

“Thought crime has come to Britain. We knew that in principle, as wave after wave of legislation has pushed the scope of anti-terror laws from deeds and plans to words. The case of Samina Malik, the Heathrow airport worker and jihadi fantasist convicted on Thursday under the Terrorism Act, confirms it beyond reasonable doubt.”

Boyd Tonkin in the Independent, 12 November 2007

Tonkin draws attention to the existence “an inflammatory anthem crammed with sanguinary images of ‘scarlet standards’ and the ‘martyred dead’, sung by a British political conspiracy once dedicated to overturning the entire economic order of society. After a spine-chilling evocation of ‘martyrs’ who died in ideological battle, the sinister ditty (‘The Red Flag’) explains why this movement’s symbol is ‘deepest red’: ‘ere their limbs grew stiff and cold/ Their hearts’ blood dyed its every fold’. Truly chilling stuff. Surely, the leader of an organisation who sanctioned the singing of such a grotesque hymn to sacrificial death should at least have his hard drive examined by our Thought Police?”

The head of the Muslim Council of Britain has said the government’s approach to terrorism is creating an atmosphere of suspicion and unease.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph, Muhammad Abdul Bari said the amount of discussion relating to Muslims was disproportionate. He cited Nazi Germany in the 1930s as an example of how people’s minds could be poisoned against a whole community.

Dr Bari also called for more emphasis on positive aspects of Muslim culture. Scaring the community “If your community is perceived in a very negative manner, and poll after poll says that we are alienated, then Muslims begin to feel very vulnerable,” he said. “We are seen as creating problems, not as bringing anything and that is not good for society.”

BBC News, 10 November 2007

Update:  See “Comparisions with the 1930s”, MCB press release, 15 November 2007

The MCB points out that Dr Bari said nothing about Nazi Germany in his interview. This was an interpolation by the Telegraph.