Britain unveils 'house arrest' law
Bill to replace currrent anti-terror legislation on March 14
LONDON, England -- The British government has unveiled a new anti-terror bill that include powers of house arrest, but it says there is no immediate need to detain anyone.
The bill would replace the current anti-terror legislation, due to expire March 14, which allows the government to jail foreign terror suspects indefinitely without trial expires.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the House of Commons on Tuesday that security services believe the house arrest measures contained in the new Prevention of Terrorism Bill are "valuable."
But he said they believe other control measures are adequate and that house arrest is not warranted at this time.
"I have been advised by the police and security authorities that they consider that the control orders ... are currently sufficient to deal with individuals concerned and that deprivation of liberty, though valuable, is not necessary in the language of the convention," Clarke said.
"They support the measures in the bill which allow me to impose obligations up to but not including a 'requirement to remain in a particular place at all times' and the flexibility they give me to tailor the obligations imposed under any order to the threat posed by the particular individual."
Clarke has rejected demands by critics that house arrest control orders be imposed by judges.
However, he said each house arrest order would be referred to the High Court for an initial hearing within seven days.
"Whatever the form of control order there should be a system of judicial review and appeal of whatever decision the home secretary takes," Clarke said during a radio interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. earlier Tuesday.
"If there were a question of deprivation of liberty ... it should automatically go to a high court judge who would have the ability to go right through all the considerations that the home secretary had come to, and to overturn the judgment within seven days."
The government says the new powers -- including electronic tagging, curfews, bans on meeting certain people and using the Internet -- are needed to safeguard Britain from the threat of terrorism.
Clarke announced plans in January for new legislation after Britain's top court ruled a month earlier against the detention of 12 foreign terrorist suspects held without trial.
The 12 suspects, mostly held at top security Belmarsh jail near London, will remain in custody pending changes to the law, Clarke said at the time.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
