27 July 2007
The Home Office has renewed its call for the pre-charge detention period for arrested suspects to be extended as part of a future counter-terrorism Bill.
The government's last attempt to extend the current 28 days to 90 days was defeated in the Commons in 2005 but Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, speaking to the home affairs select committee on July 24, said the compromise extension from 14 to 28 days was being stretched to its limit.
'By definition there [hasn't been] a case up to this point where [28 days] has been exceeded. But there certainly is information that recent alleged plots are more complex… than when Parliament considered this before,' she said.
Her comments were endorsed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on July 25 in a Commons statement introducing a consultation on new counter-terrorism measures. Brown ruled out extending the pre-charge detention period to 90 days but said that a doubling to 56 should be considered.
'There is a growing weight of opinion… that there may be some circumstances in which detention beyond 28 days could be necessary,' he said.
But the Home Office consultation document published as Brown spoke also outlined other measures that could be used, either in parallel or as an alternative to an extension of the detention period.
These included allowing suspects to be interviewed after they have been charged and using telephone intercept material as evidence.
The Home Office report stated: 'The government accepts that [these]… may improve our ability to deal with terrorism cases through the ordinary criminal process… and therefore reduce the risk that investigation teams will come up against the limit of pre-charge detention. But they cannot do more than reduce that risk.'
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the campaign group Liberty, urged the government to pursue those options as alternatives, rather than additions, to an extension of the pre-charge period.
'Lengthy periods of detention without charge failed in Northern Ireland and are counter-productive to providing intelligence for the police,' she said, adding that the police should also make more use of interpreters to improve interview questioning.
Other counter-terror proposals in Brown's statement included the creation of a 'highly visible' uniformed border police force and a requirement for visa applicants to provide biometric visas from March 2008.
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