As a matter of interest, how long does the US allow people to be detained without trial or any due process?
Am I right in thinking the answer is 48 hours?
The 42-day proposal is to detain, without trial or access to lawyers.
That is an obscenity, an offence to democracy, something that would not be tolerated in the US.
So why does the lady columnist argue that it should be passed, in a faraway country of which she obviously knows little?
The existing law is for 28 days and that’s bad enough – something decent Brits are ashamed of. It’s the longest period of incarceration and isolation in the West.
42 days would have taken the country another step down the road towards police state. Oh, and please don’t say or attempt to argue that it would only be used against ‘proven terrorists’; by definition, it’s intended to give the police time to ‘gather evidence’ – that’s right, arrest them, lock them up and then try to find something against them. Most of those arrested or detained under existing legislation are set free, without any charge whatsoever – but have the suspicion of terrorism hanging over them indefinitely.
The UK government used the Crime, Security and Prevention of Terrorism Act to freeze Icelandic assets when their banks went down the tubes. There is an ongoing inquest (cause of death hearing) into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent electrician who was ‘mistaken for a terrorist suspect’ and shot seven times in the head on a rush-hour subway train.
Do not lecture the Brits on detention without trial – they may take notice, as they did with such huge success (NOT) in Northern Ireland.
