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Most suspects will
be free in a week
If recent operations against suspected Muslim
terrorists are any guide, then many of the 13 men arrested on
Tuesday evening will be released within the next week or so. One has
already been set free. Police have 14 days under the Terrorism Act
to hold and question the remaining 12 suspects before charging them
or letting them go.
Since the attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001,
there have been 609 terrorist arrests in Britain, not including
those held yesterday. Usually, they are held on suspicion of "being
concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of
terrorism".
Of these, 61 have been charged with offences under the Act and 38
with both terrorist and other crimes. The remaining 510 have either
been released, bailed, cautioned or charged with non-terrorist
offences.
Around 50 have been dealt with by immigration services because of
doubts over their status in Britain. So far, there have been 15
convictions under anti-terrorism laws and several trials are
pending.
The figures provoked anger from Muslim groups, who accuse police and
MI5 of trawling in their community for suspected al-Qa'eda
supporters against whom they have little evidence. Yasin Rehman, of
the Council of Mosques in Luton, Beds, where one man was arrested in
the second operation in the town in four months, said: "Muslims have
been targeted and their lives have been tarnished. There is a
feeling in the community that they are being victimised."
However, it is in the nature of intelligence-led policing that many
on the fringes of extremist activity will be caught up in
surveillance operations. Security officials say there are obvious
dangers in failing to follow up any lead that points to the planning
of a terrorist attack.
It is also the function of the anti-terrorist agencies to disrupt
organisations that may be supplying peripheral help to potential
bombers through financial or other support, such as bogus
identification papers and fake credit cards.
In the mid-1990s, the French successfully used mass
arrests and disruptive raids to break up support for the terrorist
cells responsible for attacks on the Metro. Similar tactics are
being used in Britain, inevitably resulting in the arrests of people
against whom there is no direct evidence of terrorist activity.
Information may be gained by tapping telephone lines but Britain,
unusually, does not allow intercept evidence to be used in court - a
ban that the parliamentary human rights committee yesterday said
should end.
Many of those arrested are of Pakistani origin but born and brought
up in Britain. Some are well-educated professionals whose
association with fundamentalist Islam has brought them to the
attention of MI5 and Special Branch.
What alarms security agencies most is the existence of "sleeper"
cells of disaffected home-grown extremists who do not fit the
traditional profile of those trained by al-Qa'eda in Afghanistan.
They tend to avoid associations with radical imams because they know
they will be under surveillance, they do not dress in Muslim garb
and may never have had any contact with the police. Some, however,
may be recent converts to Islam.
Judging by the numbers released without charge, many will feel
aggrieved that they have been arrested but the police feel they
cannot simply ignore intelligence linking individuals to possible
terrorist activity, however loosely. Police may also discover
information that leads them to other activists.
A large number of arrests is likely to net one or two people who
really are involved or have direct connections to major al-Qa'eda
terrorists. Pakistani officials said a suspected leading bin Laden
follower - whom they identified as Abu Eisa al Hindi - is among
those being held.
Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions, told a
parliamentary committee that "wastage" between arrests and charging
was inevitable, given that the test for an arrest was simply
"reasonable suspicion". Charges only follow if prosecutors believe
there is sufficient evidence to make a successful prosecution
likely. Prosecutors find it difficult to work within the usual
custody time limits when many cases need overseas involvement.
Of the prosecutions brought so far, not all have been successful. In
2002, Suleyman Balal Zainulabidin was cleared by an Old Bailey jury
of inciting others to receive training in firearms. The case against
Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian accused of teaching the September 11
hijackers to fly, collapsed.
The current approach does not find support among some terrorist
experts. Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford
University, said: "It can stir up a lot of antagonism in the Asian
community. What we are not doing is finding out why the organisation
exists, where they get their support and why they have so much
support three years after the war on terror began."
However, Paul Beaver, a terrorism commentator, said: "Our first line
of defence is intelligence and the ability to stop people who are
suspected. If they do not have anything to do with it, then we have
the machinery of law to ensure they will be released."
Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor - 05
August 2004
Source: Telegraph
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