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13
November 2001
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© 2001
Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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Lords
may block 'Draconian' Bill
against terrorism
By Paul
Waugh, Deputy Political Editor
Proposals to scrap the right to judicial review for suspected
terrorists who seek asylum will be bitterly opposed in the House of Lords, the
Liberal Democrats said.
In a move that could trigger big delays for the Government's
new Emergency (Anti-Terrorist) Bill,
the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles
Kennedy,
said his party would team up with former judges on the crossbenches to block
the "Draconian" measures.
Mr
Kennedy
issued his warning as civil liberties lawyers claimed that the legislation,
which would allow detention without trial, could inflame tension in Britain's
Muslim community.
Labour MPs were angry that David
Blunkett,
the Home Secretary, had taken the unusual step of laying a parliamentary order
to allow Britain
to opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Walter
Schwimmer,
the secretary general of the Council of Europe, said he was "not
pleased" by the proposals and warned Mr
Blunkett
that any individual detained could issue a legal challenge.
The Bill
contains wide-ranging measures to close loopholes and update defences against terrorist attacks. As well as detention
without trial, the Bill
seeks to remove access to judicial review for suspected terrorists. This
follows Home Office claims that individuals can roam freely during years of
"endless legal wrangling" over their status.
Ministers are hoping to have the Bill
on to the statute book before Christmas. Mr
Kennedy
warned, however, that the in-built anti-Government majority in the Lords could
be mobilised if consensus was not sought.
He told The World At One on BBC Radio 4: "There are aspects of
these measures that we agree with. But that doesn't mean to say that you sign a
blank cheque for any particular Draconian constraint on civil liberties and
that is something that needs to be probably
put before the courts."
Mark
Fisher,
the former minister and Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, said the Commons
should be given a chance to question the Home Secretary as soon as possible. Graham
Allen,
a Labour MP and former whip, said he was worried that the Government was trying
to "ram through" the legislation without trying to build a consensus.
Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for
Linlithgow and father of the Commons, said: "What I really fear is that
internment could spill over into some kind of
confrontation with Islam."
The human rights lawyer Sadiq Khan
said the measures might heighten racial tension where riots were seen earlier
this year. "There is concern that this power will be used
disproportionately against those who appear to be and are visible
Muslims," he told the BBC.
