Ten o'clock news story

[alitalf]

There was a story on the news tonight about another move to extend the time that terrorist suspects can be held without charge beyond 28 days.

I've read about a few apparently inappropriate cases of people arrested under the prevention of terrorism act in recent years. The one that worries me most is that the old man who shouted "Rubbish" in response to something in a speech at the Labour Party conference, a year or two ago, was arrested under the prevention of terrorism act after he had been thrown out, apparently with more force than actually necessary, by the bouncers.

Does the possible extension of detention without charge, particularly with this politcal context, worry anyone else?

Comments

[estiel.livejournal.com]

I am solidly in favor of removing anyone (suspected terrorist or not) who attempts to deny another's lawful right to free speech.

As for arresting someone who is under suspicion for terrorism: If Bill Clinton had done that, thousands of lives could have been saved on 9/ll, not just "dozens." Also, since then, there have been (as a result of just such arrests) two incidents that I recall of plots having been discovered that would have resulted in thousands of deaths.

An argument over how long someone may be detained on suspicion of terrorism is a valid argument, but ultimately, one has to trust that law enforcement officials have public safety at heart. If one is detained unfairly, I'm sure that even one day is too long, but detaining someone a single day longer than some arbitrary limit could mean the lives of thousands of innocent people. I see no alternative but to allow those who are in a position to know the validity of detention to decide the issue.

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

I am not sure that arresting people suspected of planning terrorism would have helped in that instance, because I don't believe that the perpetrators were under suspicion.

It is reported that there was suspicion about possible terrorism that was not acted on, but to the best of my memory the actual people involved were not not the ones suspected. If you had some faith in the authorities, you might think that perhaps there ws so much speculation that it was not easy to distinguish wild rumours from genuine informatino.

If the right people could have been found, even if a number of completely irrelevant people were also arrested, that would have been a good thing. Better still if it had been possible to identify the real terrorists and release the irrelevant people quickly, but for any of that to have happened it would have been necessary to have had better information about who might be planning something.

Why I don't trust any of it is that the police in the UK have been seen to try to make the evidence fit whoever they have available, at least some times. In a case of a mother being convicted of killing her own child, evidence showing that the most likely cause of death was a medical problem unconnected with any actions of the mother, was simply buried (to the best of my memory - I can't remember the details). The evidence came to light - I think that one possible witness was surprised not to have been called and eventually asked questions about it. Of course, that was not proof that murder had not been committed, it simply showed that on the balance of probability it probably had not. We shall never know for sure...

I can't help thinking that the temptation to do this kind of thing would become stronger the longer someone had been in custody, whether or not the facts really supported the case they wanted to make.

[estiel.livejournal.com]

Even before Bin Laden was deported from Saudi Arabia, Oliver North reported his activities in detail and said that he was the most dangerous man (to the west) in the world. I actually heard this on tape. It's a shame that some law enforcement people are not trustworthy, but still, I don't think we have a choice. If UK police try to make evidence fit, there may be something wrong with the system, something that would give incentive for doing that. The problem here seems to be fear of offending somebody.

[freddiethetroll.livejournal.com]

Freddie the Libertarian Troll is with you Alitalf. Fight the good fight.

This is the least libertarian government in decades. Fighting terrorism is certainly important, but it seems to be a pretty weak excuse for increasing state control over many aspects of the lives of ordinary people. Identity cards, extended emergency powers for police, CCTV on every street corner...