Guy Aitchison (London, OK): The fight against the Counter-Terrorism Bill must not end with the Government's humiliating climbdown over the 42 days proposals. There's still loads of nasties left in the Bill, not least the powers to confiscate a "terrorist's" property - including their bank accounts, vehicles, computers or even their house - without trial and potentially on the basis of secret evidence. There's more listed here in an excellent post by David Mery:
Post-charge questioning of ‘terror suspects' - presumed guilty? ‘Terror suspects' could be subjected to further questioning after a criminal charge, possibly right up to the trial date. Saying nothing could count against them at trial. At present, once charged one can refuse to answer till their trial, without this being interpreted as a sign of guilt or deception. ‘Terrorist connection' would justify a heavier sentence Judges could give people longer sentences for ‘ordinary' offences if they had a ‘terrorism connection'. For example, public order offences like organising an unauthorised demonstration, if a speaker allegedly supports a banned ‘terrorist' organisation. Extra punishment without trial beyond the original sentence Convicted ‘terrorists' could face a ban on foreign travel once released from jail. This would be done by a special order, not a trial. Those convicted could also face a requirement to tell the police where they go whenever they sleep away from home, in some cases for life. New offence for volunteers of not giving information to police It is already an offence under the 2001 terrorism law not to tell police of suspected terrorist activities if you find anything suspicious in the course of your employment. The 2008 Bill extends this to volunteer workers, for example in a youth project or charity. People might be over-suspicious and report imagined activities because they are afraid of being criminalised for concealment. They also might be deterred from volunteering in a charity that sends money to Afghanistan or Palestine, for example. New offence of providing information about the armed forces The Bill would make it an offence to seek or communicate information about the armed forces which could be useful to terrorism. This could apply to peace protestors at anti-war protests and to criminalise the collection of information on armed forces by investigative journalists, thus attacking free speech.
There's a fuller list on David's blog, including proposals for covert collection of DNA samples. Now that the headline-grabbing 42 days has been canned, the unjust and intrusive powers still left in this rotten Bill need to be brought out into the open and their sponsors called to account. We'll be reporting on yesterday's "Orwellian" speech by Jacqui Smith later.
(via UK Liberty)
