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Secret terror courts considered Special courts sitting in secret for
pre-trial hearings in terror cases are being considered by the Home
Office. In a separate move, judges may also be asked to oversee plans for detaining terror suspects for longer than two weeks before being charged. The details come after senior Labour MP John Denham said recent anti-terror plans were "half-baked". The Home Office said details of how terror cases would be tried were still being worked out, but confirmed a move to judge-only courts was under "active consideration". Phone-taps? Home Office officials say it is unlikely the plans will be ready to be included in planned new anti-terrorism laws due to be debated by Parliament this autumn. They are not examining an exact model for the way the new courts would work. A major independent review of terror laws in 2003 said if evidence against a suspect was considered sensitive, for security or other reasons, a case against them should be put together by a special, security-cleared judge. The case would then go to a conventional trial headed by a different judge. But the Home Office says any idea of moving towards a French-style inquisitorial, rather than adversarial court system, is "very long term" and not being actively considered. There are also no plans to hold full criminal trials in secret. One possible model for the pre-trial hearings could be the Special Immigrations Appeals Tribunal, which sits in secret and keeps the details of charges from those facing them. Defendants are represented by special advocates, who have access to the evidence but do not brief their 'clients' on the details. Detention powers Mr Blair last week said: "We are already examining a new court procedure which would allow a pre-trial process. "We will also examine whether the necessary procedure can be brought about to give us a way of meeting the police and security service request that detention, pre-charge of terrorist suspects, be significantly extended." Suspects can currently be held for two weeks before being charged but police chiefs want the limit extended to three months because of the complexity of terror cases. Liberal Democrat President Simon Hughes suggested there "may be a case" for security-vetted judges to undertake special work. But he doubted a major extension of the time suspects were held could be justified. 'Botched' Conservative spokesman Edward Garnier urged the government to "calm down and think these things through" and to consult other parties on the detailed proposals. Ian Macdonald QC, who resigned last year as a barrister in special terror cases, said he thought the secret courts proposal might be botched. "It will, in fact, be a method of extending the detention of suspects for more than two weeks," he said. The Home Office has said there is no truth in newspaper reports that the new courts would be able to use phone-tap evidence, which is currently inadmissible. Law rush? Unveiling a raft of counter-terror proposals on Friday, Mr Blair announced plans to extend powers to deport or exclude foreigners who encourage terrorism, perhaps through changing human rights laws. There could also be new powers to close mosques and automatic refusal of asylum to anyone with anything to do with terrorism. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have accused the government of confusion by continuing to announce new measures in response to the 7 July attacks. Mr Denham, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said ministers had initially produced a considered response to the London attacks, but that its latest measures looked rushed. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Tuesday said it was the media who were into grabbing headlines. Consultations on the proposed new measures were going on but Mr Blair had started debate, he said. "What we don't have at the moment is the concrete proposals put forward by government and its conclusions on its own discussions that are under way at the present time," added Mr Prescott. |
