At the end of 2004, the Law Lords ruled detention without trial of terror suspects unlawful where the nature or source of the evidence against them made their trials inexpedient, and, if foreign, where the risk their ‘human rights’ might be violated if returned home ruled out deportation.
The then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, responded to this ruling by introducing ‘control orders’ about whose likely efficacy I forecast in a blog about the matter I posted on the Civitas website at the time: ‘Control orders are unlikely to prove any more effective against genuine terrorists than ASBO’s have proved in restraining juvenile delinquents of which … in some areas of England every one is breached. ‘
Today’s Times leads with the story that ‘a British-born terror suspect was on the run last night after breaking his control order and evading police by taking shelter in a mosque.’ Apparently, the man absconded within four days of the order being placed on him earlier this month.
Although Manchester police knew he had taken refuge in a local mosque, they refrained from entering it to arrest him out of fear of offending Muslim sensibilities, preferring instead to negotiate with people connected with the mosque for the man's hand-over which enabled some within it to help him escape through a back entrance. He is now thought to be in Pakistan.
Yesterday, announcing the man’s escape, police Minister, Tony McNulty, is reported to have said: ‘The individual is not believed to represent a direct threat to the public in the UK at this time.’
Most reassuring, I don’t think. Pages six and seven of same issue of the paper are given over to details that emerged in court yesterday at the trial of the four alleged suicide bombers of July 21st 2005.
I do understand how apprehensive police must be in their dealings with the Muslim community over matters connected with terrorism. But surely they should not allow mosques to become sanctuaries ‘beyond the reach of the law’, as appears to have happened in this particular case.
While on the subject of mosques and the potential security risk some of them pose, those who did not manage to see last Monday’s disturbing Channel Four Dispatches programme exposing the extremist doctrines being propagated in some of them can do so by clicking onto this link to the Little Green Footballs website that has posted it.
Comments (1)
Do you have a community leader ?
Who are these self appointed leaders ? and why should the police have to talk to them before making any arrests ? This is a slippery slope for policing in this country, i must mention this to my community leader, now where would i find one, how silly of me, I am not a special case, not an ethnic minority, not diverse enough, the wrong religion, and to be blunt the wrong colour. There is no community leader for me. Bugger!
Posted by Mike | January 17, 2007 7:20 PM
Posted on January 17, 2007 19:20