Civil Liberties

Half of terror suspects released

More than half of those arrested in the UK on suspicion of terrorism since September 2001 have been released without charge, according to figures.

Home Office statistics show 669 of the 1,228 people arrested in terrorist investigations were later freed.

Some 224 have been convicted in terrorism-related trials, with 114 awaiting trial.

More than 130 people have been charged under terrorism laws, while 195 were charged with other criminal offences.

Met given real time C-charge data

Police are to be given live access to London's congestion charge cameras - allowing them to track all vehicles entering and leaving the zone.

Anti-terror officers will be exempted from parts of the Data Protection Act to allow them to see the date, time and location of vehicles in real time.

Al-Qa'ida threat 'justifies new anti-terror laws'

Four thousand al-Qa'ida suspects and sympathisers are on M15's watchlist, the Home Office warned as it accelerated plans for new anti-terror legislation.

Ministers are actively considering a fresh attempt to extend the 28-day limit for which terrorist suspects can be held without charge because of the scale of the plots facing Britain.

Opposition parties and civil liberties groups warned the Government against using the terrorist threat as a justification for undermining human rights.

Lord West of Spithead, the Security minister, disclosed that police and security services were monitoring 2,000 suspects and a further 2,000 sympathisers. Two hundred suspected terrorist cells are being watched, of which 30 are thought to be gathering the material to launch an attack in the near future.

I just knew the failed bombings last month would lead to the government calling for more repressive anti terror laws which will make us much less safer, they were just waiting for the right opportunity to come along. Detaining a suspect for a unnamed amount of time seriously hurts relations with the Muslim community which hampers investigations. Its also wrong to hold someone for days and not telling them what they are charged with and denying them representation, its shameful behaviour from the government.