24 May 2007

In response to news that three more men on control orders have absconded, the Home Secretary has today called for a cross party consensus behind new counter-terrorism measures.

Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said:

“No one disputes that we live in difficult times. But with threats come opportunities. We look forward to a new Prime Minister and Home Secretary leading a cross-party non-party consensus that rejects blustering rhetoric for unity in bringing terror suspects to real British justice within the Rule of Law.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Control Orders were brought in by the Government under the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act. A control order severely restricts who a person can meet, where they can go and all cases so far have involved electronic tagging. They can potentially last indefinitely. The person does not have to be accused of any crime and does not have to be told why he is under suspicion.

2. We believe that at least six men under control orders have absconded

3. The Government’s argument that it is impossible to prosecute terror suspects is fast unravelling. Liberty has made numerous suggestions for overcoming unnecessary hurdles to prosecuting terror suspects:

- Remove the bar on intercept (phone tap) evidence in criminal trials because its inadmissibility is a major factor in being unable to bring charges. In the last year the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and a former Head of MI5 have argued that it should be possible to use intercept evidence in court so that more terror suspects can be prosecuted.

- Review the way in which people that have already been charged can be re-interviewed and recharged as further evidence is uncovered. This will allow for a charge to be replaced with a more appropriate offence at a later stage.

- Bring in existing powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) which enable a civil court to require an individual to hand over an encryption key (which unlocks data on seized computers). Anyone who fails to comply with such an order will be committing a serious criminal offence.

- More resources for police and intelligence services.