U.K May Declare Emergency To Quit Human Rights

We May Declare An Emergency To Quit Rights Act, Says Reid

Richard Ford, Philip Webster and Stewart Tendler
May 25, 2007
TimesOnline

Police would be able to continue questioning terrorist suspects after they had been charged under proposals to be published within weeks by John Reid.

After the latest fiasco in which three terror suspects went on the run after breaching their control orders, the Home Secretary said yesterday that the Government would consider declaring that there was an emergency threat to the country, allowing it to opt out of human rights legislation, if all other options failed.

But doubts were expressed in government circles last night whether such a move was likely. Mr Reid steps down on June 27 and Labour MPs said that Gordon Brown would be unlikely to want his new Home Secretary to be starting a fight with Europe over rights legislation.

Mr Reid held talks with David Davis and Nick Clegg, his Tory and Liberal Democrats counterparts, on Wednesday as news that the terror suspects had absconded broke. Mr Reid wants all-party agreement for a series of counter-terror measures to be outlined before he quits as Home Secretary.

However, his desire for consensus did not stop him blaming the Opposition and the courts for a failure to introduce the tougher measures that the Government had wanted.

The Government hopes to reach agreement on plans to allow suspects to be questioned for some time after they have been charged. But Mr Reid is also considering letting the courts infer guilt in cases when a suspect keeps silent during questioning after charges have been brought – a move that will be far more controversial.

The Government is to reject Tory demands for telephone tap evidence to made admissible in terrorist court cases.

Mr Reid also wants the control order regime tightened to stop courts cutting the length of curfews from 18 hours to 14 hours or lower. He is appealing to the Lords in July in a number of cases where the courts have ruled that 18-hour curfews breach human rights.

Mr Reid said that if the Government lost it might suspend parts of the European Convention on Human Rights so that it could put suspects under conditions breaching human rights.

A huge police search is under way for the three terror suspects on the run. Six of 17 people on control orders have now absconded.

Scotland Yard named Lamine Adam, 26, his brother Ibra-him, 20, and Cerie Bullivant, 24, after they failed to report to police. The Adams’s brother, Anthony Garcia, 25, was jailed for life last month for his part in the “fertiliser bomb” plot.

Mr Bullivant is due to stand trial over claims that he breached his control order on thirteen occasions over the past ten months.

Mr Reid said: “It is believed that these individuals wanted to travel abroad for terrorism-related purposes. They are not considered at this time to represent a direct threat to the public in the UK.”

The Options:

— Let police question suspects after charges

— Courts to draw inference of guilt from silence

— Legislate to allow control orders involve curfews of up to 18 hours

— Derogate from European Convention on Human Rights on basis that there is an emergency threat. Would need approval of both Houses of Parliament