Britain passes new anti-terror law, suspects freed

LONDON - Britain has hammered controversial anti-terrorism measures into law as eight foreign terrorist suspects, regarded by the government as among the most dangerous men in the country, walked free on bail.

Politicians finally approved Prime Minister Tony Blair's anti-terrorism bill after one of the longest parliamentary sittings in British history - a 30-hour marathon which started on Thursday morning and ran all through the night.

A deal was reached after Blair promised to give parliament an opportunity to overhaul the legislation next year.

As exhausted politicians left parliament, some of Britain's top terrorism suspects were leaving jail where they had been held without charge or trial for up to three years under old anti-terrorism legislation ruled unlawful by judges last year.

A judge ordered their release on Friday on grounds their detention was illegal. Two other terrorist suspects had already been released on similar bail terms, one on Thursday.

Just hours after the new law was passed, the Home Office (Interior Ministry) said "control orders," the central component of the legislation, would be imposed immediately on the eight men - described by the government and Britain's most senior police officer as a serious threat to society.

The new control orders would be similar to the tough bail terms that had been set - that they wear electronic tags, stay home for 12 hours a day and refrain from pre-arranged meetings.

SUSPECTS ALL MUSLIMS

The suspects, all foreign Muslims, included Abu Qatada, a Syrian cleric who the government describes as the spiritual mentor to Mohammed Atta, leader of the hijackers who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.

Qatada has been accused of funding and inspiring militants worldwide from his base in London. He was arrested in October 2002 after disappearing in the weeks after Sept. 11.

The government accuses him and the other suspects of having links to al Qaeda via militant Muslim groups.

We are talking about individuals where there is a very substantial risk to the people of this country," Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Charles Clarke said in Friday's heated debate over the content of the new anti-terrorism legislation.

"It is for that reason that it is important that we have the powers which are set out (in the bill), and I stand by them."

Blair wanted to get his bill approved this week because Britain's existing anti-terrorism laws, rammed through in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, are due to expire on Sunday.

But opponents, many from within his own Labour Party, said the bill was poorly drafted and draconian. They also complained they had not had time to debate it properly.

Blair made concessions to get his way in the lower chamber, the House of Commons, but the unelected Lords, who by convention are expected to yield to the Commons, refused to back down.

In an extraordinary game of parliamentary ping-pong, the two houses batted the bill back and forth. Each time they did so, a parliamentary official wearing a wig carried the bill through the elegant corridors from one chamber to the other.

The deadlock was eventually broken when Blair made his final concession and opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard accepted it.

Both men, flexing their political muscles before a general election expected in May, claimed victory.

"We've got the substance of what we were asking for," said Howard, adding he had forced Blair into a major climbdown.

The new law will allow authorities to detain Britons as well as foreigners indefinitely and without charge if it suspects them of terrorism. The old law applied only to foreigners.

The new measures will also allow the government to place suspects under house arrest.

Both the old and new laws require Britain to suspend the right to a fair trial guaranteed under European law, making it the only country to do so.

Opponents of the legislation says that goes against 800 years of British tradition, dating from the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.

- REUTERS