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UK
Labor MPs Rebel on Terror Bill
LONDON,
Nov.22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Opposition to controversial
anti-terrorism measures have sparked the biggest rebellion of the British
parliament with more than 30 Labor members of Parliament (MPs) voting against
the government, news agencies reported.
British
Home Secretary, David Blunkett hoped to dissolve opposition to a measure
allowing the detention without trial of some terror suspects, by building in an
automatic lapse after a five year period, reported the BBC’s online service.
However,
it was not enough to prevent 15 Labor rebels voting against an order to opt out
of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights preventing detention
without trial.
The
government's huge majority ensured the vote was easily carried. But among those
opposing the move included Chris Mullin, Labor chairman of the influential Home
Affairs select committee, and Labor former minister Mark Fisher.
Later,
32 Labor MPs voted against the government overpowers which would prevent legal
challenges to the Home Secretary's decisions, reported the BBC.
MPs
on all sides of the House of Commons have accused the government of using the
deadly attacks of 11 September as an excuse to force through Draconian measures
limiting traditional freedoms, according to the BBC.
They
are also angry that such a controversial bill is being rushed through in three
parliamentary sessions, a process that would normally take several weeks.
The
bill is expected to face further opposition when it reaches the House of Lords.
The
bill is due to receive its final Commons reading next week.
Earlier,
in an attempt to appease the bill's critics, Blunkett told MPs there will be a
"sunset clause" added to the section of the bill dealing with the
detention of suspects without trial.
This
means that after five years the measure would lapse and Parliament would have to
vote to re-approve it.
Blunkett
said it would enable MPs and Peers to determine whether detention without trial
was still justified.
Labor
rebel Chris Mullin praised the government's "willingness to listen" on
the sunset clause, as his committee had suggested that change. He said it made
it easier for MPs who had concerns over the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security
bill to support it.
But
Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary, called the concession
"unacceptable", as the five-year sunset clause only applied to one
section of the bill.
Blunkett's
concession also failed to silence backbench critics such as Labor’s Diane
Abbott, who said of the Government's plans: "It will look very much like
internment without trial. "It's long been the wish of some of the most
gruesome and barbaric regimes in the world to get this government to act against
people they deem to be terrorists.
"They
have got their wish in this set of internment clauses."
Internment,
she said, had proved the "best recruiting sergeant" for the Irish
Republican Army (IRA).
In
another development, British security sources have said they are confident that
Abu Qatada, who is accused by the Spanish authorities of being the spiritual
head of the al-Qa'ida network in Europe, will be interned within a month once
the new anti-terrorism legislation comes into effect, reported the
Independent.
But
Qatada, a Palestinian living in London, insisted Wednesday he was innocent. He
said he was not afraid of being detained and condemned Blunkett's anti-terrorism
Bill as a "law against law".
Speaking
from his home in Acton, Qatada, 40, said the new laws threatened to destroy
civil liberties and insisted he was prepared to face his accusers in court, Daily
Telegraph reported.
Qatada,
who has four children, said he was simply a cleric who spent his time on such
matters as offering marital advice, not masterminding global terrorism. But
security sources claimed they had a convincing case for internment.
A
security officer said: "We're waiting to see the fine points of the new law
but are confident that there'll be enough in there to detain him. There seem to
be grounds to get him on suspicion to commit or support acts of terror in
another country. The Spanish findings certainly provide a compelling excuse to
move in on him," reported the Independent.
Qatada,
who has been given a life sentence in absentia for bombings in Jordan, is
alleged to have a connection with at least nine al-Qa'ida agents and he is
wanted for questioning by Spanish investigators. Eighteen videos made by him
were found in a Hamburg flat used by Mohammed Atta, allegedly ring-leader of the
11 September hijackers.
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