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9 March 2005

Bishop fears for civil rights in UK anti-terror measure

Cedric Pulford
London (ENI). An Anglican bishop, Peter Selby, whose father was once interned, has spoken out against an anti-terror measure in Britain which will allow suspects to be deprived of liberty indefinitely without charge or trial. Sections of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill were heavily defeated in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the UK parliament, on 7 and 8 March. That left the government seeking a compromise for the bill, which earlier had narrowly cleared the House of Commons, the lower chamber of parliament. "We are faced with legislation which is part of a transformative process in our society, progressively undermining its spirit, to which so much effort has been directed and which has cost so much to secure," said Selby, the Bishop of Worcester. His German father was interned in Britain at the start of the Second World War. He added: "Civil liberties are only endangered by the State. There are other dangers posed by terrorists, and they are extremely serious. I do not minimise them. There is something altogether different, however, when the State begins to turn on its people, or awards itself the power to do so."

The government says the bill is necessary to protect the nation from intending terrorists who cannot be brought to a conventional trial. Control measures range from house arrest to electronic tagging and a ban on using the Internet. Lord Stevens, who retired as London police chief last month, said last week that up to 200 al-Qaeda activists are at large in Britain. In its original form the bill allowed house arrest to be imposed by the home secretary (interior minister), although the government later yielded to demands for a judge to make the order. The House of Lords voted for judges to make all orders and for a clause for the measure to expire in November. Churches have largely stayed out of the controversy, with no prominent church leader speaking in favour of the bill. The Methodist Church, however, joined in the criticism from a range of critics including jurists, academics, church leaders and the parliamentary opposition. "There is a very real danger that undue fear could persuade us to adopt measures that will damage the good record of this country on justice and human rights," said Steve Hucklesby, the Methodist secretary for international affairs.

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