Smith: Detain terror suspects for 42 days

Ministers propose 42-day detention without charge limit'

Thursday, 06, Dec 2007 12:00

The home secretary has appealed to MPs to extend the time for which terror suspects can be held by police without sufficient evidence to charge them with an offence.

Jacqui Smith today set out reforms to hold terror suspects for 42 days, extending the present 28-day limit by two weeks.

Despite proposals for a number of safeguards, including parliamentary scrutiny on individual cases, opposition politicians and civil liberties groups have immediately rejected the proposed 42-day limit.

Announcing the proposed extension to pre-charge detention, which will be debated in parliament in the new year, Ms Smith said the power would only be used where there is a "clear operational need".

Ms Smith said: "This isn't about win-win. It is about legislating now for a risk that I am clear does exist, chief constables are clear exists and the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation is also clear exists."

Under the proposed reforms chief constables and the director of public prosecutions would have to apply to the home secretary on a case by case basis to hold suspects beyond 28 days.

The home secretary could then approve powers to come into force for a 60-day period. This must be reported to parliament within two days and MPs then have 30 days to decide whether they agree a suspect should be held for 42 days.

However, critics claim the 30-day window means suspects can be held beyond the present 28-day limit before MPs vote.

Nick Clegg, Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said Ms Smith's safeguards were "just a fig leaf for an unwanted extension".

The 28-day limit already allows the longest pre-charge detention period in the democratic world and Mr Clegg asked what evidence the government had for a further extension.

He said: "Unless some real evidence is produced, the suspicion will only grow that his is being pushed for political reason, not because of a demonstrable need in law."

The Conservatives also claim the government has failed to prove it is necessary to extend the pre-charge detention limit, insisting they have "lost the argument…again and again".

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "It is obvious the government is simply trying to get themselves out of a political hole that they have dug themselves.

"Every single argument they offer would crumble if they used other mechanisms available such as post-charge questioning, intercept evidence and using the existing power to prosecute anyone who refuses to reveal the codes to encrypted data."

Gordon Brown has said there is a "growing weight of opinion" behind an extended limit.

However, the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith and director of public prosecutions Sir Ken MacDonald have publicly doubted the need to extend the 28-day limit.