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Chaos as first terror orders are used
Chaos last night surrounded the first
'control orders' served on suspects following last week's dramatic
passage of new anti-terror laws through Parliament.
Lawyers acting for 10 former detainees released on bail last week
have already identified a series of serious problems with the new
system, which also applied to British subjects from yesterday.
On release, the foreign nationals discovered that a hotline set up
to keep them in touch with the Home Office had not been activated.
One man. known as B, who did not wish to be released from Broadmoor
high security psychiatric hospital, is reported to have suffered a
further mental breakdown as a result of being moved. When police
arrived at the council flat assigned to him they were forced to
break the door down to gain entry. There are serious concerns for
his safety because he has already made one attempt on his life.
Suspects must phone a private tagging company before they leave the
house. But in one case, suspect P, who has no arms, was supplied
with a phone that had not been adapted for his disability.
Lawyers acting for Abu Rideh, a Palestinian also held at Broadmoor
said police had told him that they knew he was no danger to the
public.
The mother of one former detainee visiting from abroad had been
thrown out of the family house because she was not on a list of
people authorised to visit the suspect under the terms of the
control order.
Solicitor Gareth Peirce, who represents most of the detainees said
the system had already descended into mayhem. 'Another hideous
experiment has begun and once again the government is using human
guinea pigs.'
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the intelligence services did not
demand draconian powers to detain terror suspects but merely advised
ministers on the level of the threat to national security, The
Observer can reveal.
Pronouncements by ministers and senior police officers on views
within the security service, known as MI5, are being viewed with
growing irritation by people working within the intelligence
community, said Whitehall security sources.
At Prime Minister's question-time last Wednesday, Tony Blair
suggested intelligence chiefs had specifically warned against a Tory
proposal to set a time limit on the legislation: 'It would be
contrary to the strong advice given to us by our security services
and our police and I am simply not prepared to do it.'
But a senior intelligence source told The Observer MI5 'was not
driving this process', adding: 'They gave an assessment of the
threat and allowed [the government] to decide what was to be
legislated.'
Source: The Guardian
13 Feb 2005
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