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New Anti-Terror Laws
14 March 2005
In the last week, the British parliament has instituted new anti-terrorism laws which significantly increase the power available to the Home Secretary, the Minister responsible for internal security.
Opponents of the new bill see it as a threat to basic human rights and to the principles of Magma Carter, the document on which much of English law is based.
After a marathon session involving both houses of government, a compromise was reached between the government, the opposition parties and the House of Lords.
Whilst the final bill gives the Minister less power than originally intended, it still allows him to operate above the judiciary in placing terrorism suspects under house arrest without trial.
Social commentator Mal Fletcher says that new laws relating to security should be based upon the needs of those they intend to protect rather than simply a reaction to the perpetrators of crime.
'We need to be vigilant against terrorism, without doubt,' he said, 'but we also need to watch that governments do not take opportunity to increase their powers beyond reasonable democratic limits.'
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