Concerns voiced over new terror powers[by muslims]

Labour and opposition MPs joined Muslim and civil rights groups today in voicing concerns over proposed new anti-terror laws designed to give police powers to stop and question anyone in the UK.

John Reid, the home secretary, who is quitting next month, intends to extend Northern Ireland’s draconian police powers to interrogate individuals about who they are, where they have been and where they are going.

Under the new laws, police will not need to suspect that a crime has taken place and can use the power to gain information about “matters relevant” to terror investigations.

Anyone who refused to give their name or explain what they were doing could be charged with obstructing the police and fined up to £5,000.

Mr Reid’s cabinet colleague Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, warned the tough new anti-terror restrictions could become “the domestic equivalent of Guantanamo Bay”.

David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said that the “draconian announcements” appeared to be more of a “wish to project the reputation of Mr Reid and Mr Blair in their last weeks in office, than a need to protect the British public”.

He added: “The Government should understand that no amount of new draconian laws will make up for incompetent implementation.

“We will consider carefully every proposal the Government comes up with and support those we judge to be effective, reasonable, and will not act as a recruiting sergeant for terrorism. This cannot, and will not, be concluded in four weeks.

“A consensual approach to terror laws is the right approach to take but will take some time.”

Bertie Ahern, the newly re-elected Irish Prime Minister, said Northern Ireland had been looking forward to the amendment of restrictive legislation introduced during the Troubles.

He told Sunday Live on Sky News: “International terrorism is something nobody can take for granted and nobody can ignore... but it would be a pity if that continues what has been a very restrictive regime in Northern Ireland which is certainly not something that the ordinary citizen likes.

“I think people in Northern Ireland would feel that whatever is going to be the legislation everywhere else should be the legislation in Northern Ireland.”

Civil rights campaigners and British Muslim groups also attacked the proposed new legislation.

Ahmed Versi, editor of Muslim News, a newspaper for British Muslims, warned that if the legislation was passed relations between the Islamic community and the police would only get worse.

“There is a complete lack of confidence in the Government and the police service in the Muslim community. If this legislation is passed, it’s going to get worse.”

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said: “The police should not have powers to run around questioning people willy-nilly, otherwise people feel hunted.

“This looks like political machismo, a legacy moment. Stopping and questioning anyone you like will backfire because people will be being criminalised.”

Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, argued that the new powers would lead to young Muslim men being “disproportionately targeted“.

He said that of 22,700 stop and searches carried out by the Metropolitan Police last year, only 27 led to terrorism-related arrests.

“Our concern is that what are already dismal results will get even worse,” he added. “It will only succeed in driving a further wedge between the police and sections of the Muslim community. We certainly would support measures that are designed to reduce the terror threat that we are facing.

“However, we believe this requires more than just giving ever-increasing powers to the police.”

Mr Hain said he wanted to see the details of the policy before making any judgment.

But he told BBC1’s Sunday AM: “We cannot have a reincarnation of the old ‘sus’ laws under which mostly black people, ethnic minorities, were literally stopped on sight and that created a really bad atmosphere and an erosion of civil liberties.”

The controversial ‘sus’ laws, permitting police officers to act on suspicion or ‘sus’ alone, have been blamed as one of the causes of riots in Bristol, London and Liverpool in 1980 and 1981.

Counter-terrorism minister Tony McNulty insisted there would be plenty of time to consult on the measures which would not be put to Parliament until the autumn.

He told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend the stop and question powers were “one of a whole range of things we are looking at with a view to introducing a terrorism bill later in the year.

“People can’t have it both ways; they can’t attack us for quick legislation and, in their terms, ill-thought-out legislation and then when we are saying ‘here’s a whole series of things that based on an analysis of existing counter-terrorism we want to consult on and will afford people the time for that consultation’ attack us when they don’t know what the details are.

“We are still going through internal Government processes. This story is based on a leak. We were very clear we were going to go to Parliament in the next couple of weeks and tell them, in substance, what was likely to be in such a bill but...not as a fait accompli.

“There will be plenty of time to consult with a whole range of people before introducing such a bill probably as late as October, November.”

Meanwhile, Mr Blair hit out today at the “dangerous misjudgment” of putting civil liberties before fighting terror.

He insisted the disappearance of three suspects under control orders was not the fault of the Home Office but society’s “misguided and wrong” priorities.

Writing in today’s Sunday Times, he said: “The fault is not with our services or, in this instance, with the Home Office.

“We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first. I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong.”