BRITAIN: British and foreign terrorist suspects could be subject to virtual house arrest under sweeping new powers being sought by the Blair government.
This was confirmed by Home Secretary Mr Charles Clarke yesterday as he unveiled proposals for tough new "control orders" to replace the detention of foreign nationals deemed discriminatory and unlawful by the House of Lords.
The new powers will include provision to restrict the movement and associations of suspected persons not prosecuted in the courts, as well as their use of telephones, the Internet and other technology, and will result in a criminal offence - punishable by imprisonment - for any breach. Mr Clarke defended the move in a Commons statement yesterday, telling MPs his most recent discussions with the Director General of MI5 and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police left him "in no doubt that nothing has happened recently which diminishes the threat or calls into question the state of public emergency threatening the life of the nation."
But with the British government once again likely to derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights, civil liberties campaigners accused Mr Clarke of replacing one form of detention with another.
"However he puts it, the Home Secretary is giving himself the power to place anyone in the UK under house arrest, without charge or trial, based on secret evidence - UK citizens included," said Amnesty International UK director Ms Kate Allen.
She continued: "The government is still side-stepping the law courts, still detaining people on secret evidence - only people will now be detained in their homes rather than at Belmarsh Prison."
There was uncertainty about the immediate fate of the 12 foreign nationals still being held under the detention laws Mr Clarke is now set to replace.
One detainee suffering mental health problems was released from Belmarsh Prison last year and is now held in similar conditions to those proposed under the new control orders.
In the Commons, however, Mr Clarke indicated that the 12 currently held at Belmarsh, Woodhill and Broadmoor would remain in prison until the new legislation is in place.
Mr Clarke said while he accepted the Law Lords' ruling, the detention powers invoked by the government in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks had "played an essential part in addressing the current public emergency because they have been successful in containing the threat posed by those certified and detained under them".
The use of the powers, he said, had also "helped to make the UK a far more hostile environment for international terrorists to operate in". Accepting the Lords' judgment that new measures must equally apply to nationals and non-nationals, the Home Secretary also informed the House: "It is clear that some British nationals are now playing a more significant role in these threats."
Again ruling out the admissibility of telephone intercept evidence, Mr Clarke said prosecution remained the government's preferred way of dealing with terrorists, and that control orders would only be used in serious cases.
He also confirmed discussions were continuing with a number of Middle Eastern and North African countries about the possibility of deporting foreign terror suspects "with assurances" that they would not be subject to torture or the death penalty in the countries to which they would be transferred.
Four Britons who were returned to the UK after being detained at Guantanamo Bay for up to three years were released without charge, police said.
Mr Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, Mr Feroz Abbasi from Croydon, south London, Mr Martin Mubanga from Wembley, north west London, and Mr Richard Belmar from St John's Wood, north west London, were all released from Paddington Green station.
The men have been escorted to a location of their choice to be reunited with their families.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Shortly before 9 pm four men arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on January 25th were released without charge.
"This followed liaison between police and the Crown Prosecution Service."