Useful news items for use in the general elections

CAMPACC 12 April 2005

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Control orders 'could target IRA' 17 March 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4358299.stm
The government has refused to rule out using its new control orders against members of the IRA. The controversial detention orders were brought in last week under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Ex-terror detainee in drug scare 22 March 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4372233.stm
A foreign terror suspect placed under a control order has been treated for a drug overdose, his lawyer has said. Abu Rideh was admitted to hospital on Saturday following "a very serious overdose of pills" and released on Monday, Gareth Peirce said.

Guantánamo Briton claims he spied for MI5. Detainee says agents urged contact with Islamic cleric
Vikram Dodd Tuesday March 22, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1442918,00.html
A British man held in Guantánamo Bay because of his association with the alleged militant Abu Qatada says that MI5 urged him to remain friends with the cleric so he could inform on him, according to American military documents, details of which have been learned by the Guardian. Bisher al-Rawi, originally from Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, says MI5 reassured him that he would not get into trouble for associating with Mr Qatada.

Incitement law likely to be dumped
Alan Travis Wednesday March 23, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1443615,00.html
Home Office ministers are resigned to losing their proposal to outlaw incitement to religious hatred so that they can get the new serious and organised crime agency operational. Ministers are to offer the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives a guarantee that the legislation will not constrain freedom of speech. But they do not expect this will be enough to prevent opposition peers voting down the measure on April 5 - the day Tony Blair is expected to announce the date of the general election.

Control order flaws exposed: First interview with ex-detainee reveals a regime that leaves him in despair : Ex-detainee exposes flaws in terror control orders
Audrey Gillan and Faisal al Yafai Thursday March 24, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1444504,00.html
The bizarre world of the government's controversial anti-terrorist control orders was yesterday revealed when one of the 10 men who had been detained in high-security institutions for more than three years walked into the Guardian offices without any security escort. Highlighting the stark contradictions in the control orders, Mahmoud Abu Rideh, who had been detained without charge and trial in Belmarsh prison and Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, is kept under house arrest at night, but is able to roam freely under tagging during the day.

Terror suspect 'had personal details about British soldier'
By Sean O’Neill March 30, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1546787,00.html
A YOUNG Muslim with alleged “extremist leanings” appeared in court yesterday charged with possessing the personal details and home address of a decorated British soldier for a terrorist purpose. Mohammed Abu Baker Mansha, 21, was arrested last Thursday in a 4am raid on a near-derelict flat on a housing estate in Thamesmead, southeast London.

MP is off message on Human Rights
By Richard Ford, Home Correspondent March 30, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1546900,00.html
THE Conservatives faced further embarrassment on a key policy pledge after the Shadow Attorney-General went off-message to give his support to the Human Rights Act. Dominic Grieve opened up further divisions by backing the Act, which has been criticised by both the Conservative leader and the Shadow Home Secretary. His support for the Act will be an embarrassment for Michael Howard, who has promised to overhaul or scrap it if the party wins the election.

Suspects may stand
By Suzannah Hills March 31, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1548490,00.html
SUSPECTED terrorists subject to control orders under the new anti-terrorism laws can still stand as candidates in elections, it was revealed yesterday. The Prevention of Terrorism Act can impose electronic tagging, curfews and home arrest on those who are a threat to national security. But if the suspect is over 21 and a UK citizen, neither the Act nor electoral law can prevent them standing as a candidate.

Islamophobia ‘rife among young’
Lewis Smith reports from the British Psychological Society conference April 02, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1550884,00.html
ISLAMOPHOBIA is alive and well among schoolchildren in regional towns and cities where ethnic groups form only a tiny proportion of the population. Researchers studying the effects of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the invasion of Iraq found disturbing levels of antagonism towards Muslims, the British Psychological Society (BPS) was told yesterday. They discovered that boys and young men are significantly more likely to be antagonistic toward Islam than girls.

Scissors back on planes as terror rules are relaxed
Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent April 03, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1552100,00.html
A BAN on knitting needles, nail scissors and metal cutlery introduced on British flights in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks is to be relaxed. Ministers have sanctioned the move because they believe improvements to in-flight security, such as reinforced cockpit doors and the deployment of armed sky marshals, mean the objects are unlikely to pose a risk in the hands of a would-be hijacker.

Al-Qaeda lures middle classes to join its ranks
Nick Fielding April 03, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1552099,00.html
THE typical recruit to Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organisation, is upper middle class, has been educated in the West and is from a professional background, according to a new study. An analysis of 500 members of Osama Bin Laden’s organisation has revealed that the majority had been in further education and were from relatively affluent families. The recruits also tended to come from the wealthier Arab countries.

MPs condemn trial system for terror suspects
By Frances Gibb, Legal Editor April 04, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-1554004,00.html
THE trial system for depriving terror suspects of their liberty is critically flawed and in need of reform, a committee of MPs has concluded. In a report yesterday, the Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee says that the system of “special advocates” used to represent terror suspects in largely closed hearings is defective.

MPs demand reform of special advocate system
Clare Dyer, legal editor Monday April 4, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1451436,00.html
The system under which barristers who have been appointed by the government and given security clearance represent the interests of terror suspects at secret court hearings is "critically flawed" and must be reformed urgently, MPs said yesterday. The barristers, known as special advocates, are cleared to see secret or "closed" documents from the intelligence services, but are not allowed to speak to the suspect or his lawyers once they have seen this information.

MPs condemn 'critically flawed' appeal system for terror suspects
By Sophie Goodchild, Home Affairs Correspondent 03 April 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=625939
The current appeals system for terrorism suspects is "critically flawed" and needs a radical overhaul, according to a damning report by MPs published today. Members of the constitutional affairs committee say that defendants are not getting fair hearings because special security-cleared solicitors are barred from giving them details of the evidence against them which is outlined in confidential documents.

MPs demand answers over 'torture intelligence'
Mark Oliver and agencies Tuesday April 5, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1452713,00.html
The government should end its "obfuscation" over whether the UK had used intelligence acquired by other states by means of torture, an influential committee of MPs demanded today. The Commons foreign affairs committee (FAC) said it was "surprising and unsettling" that ministers had twice refused to tell it whether they received or acted on such information, and called on the government to "give straight answers".

India, Uzbekistan vow to fight terrorism
Tuesday, 05 April , 2005, Sify News
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13710688
New Delhi: Heralding a new dimension in bilateral ties, India and Uzbekistan on Tuesday vowed to fight terrorism on a sustained basis as the two sides signed 12 accords on stepping up cooperation in defence, trade, education and other areas. Four agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Uzbek President Islam A Karimov, after the two leaders held extensive parleys covering bilateral and important regional and international issues of mutual interest. The pact on cooperation in military and military technical areas, inked by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and his Uzbek counterpart Kadir Gulomov, provides for exchange of expertise, development, production, repair of equipment, training and joint exercises. The two sides resolved to fight terrorism on a long-term and sustained basis and emphasised the need for early conclusion of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Hoon creates special forces regiment
Richard Norton-Taylor Wednesday April 6, 2005 The Guardian
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/story/0,1320,1453040,00.html
A new special forces regiment has been formed to conduct covert surveillance operations, mainly in pursuit of international terrorists, the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced yesterday. The Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the SRR, is the first special forces unit to be created since the end of the second world war and will be based in Hereford, home of the SAS. The regiment, consisting of women as well as men, will be fully operational from today. The Ministry of Defence refused to disclose its size of but it is likely to be less than half the size of the SAS, which consists of some 450 elite troopers.

China: Religious Repression of Uighur Muslims
11 Apr 2005 Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/617f85ef637f810fe8d62be1f72592d9.htm
Source: Human Rights Watch
The Chinese government is directing a crushing campaign of religious repression against China's Muslim Uighurs in the name of anti-separatism and counter-terrorism, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China said in a new report today. The 114-page report, Devastating Blows: Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang, is based on previously undisclosed Communist Party and government documents, as well as local regulations, official newspaper accounts, and interviews conducted in Xinjiang. It unveils for the first time the complex architecture of law, regulation, and policy in Xinjiang that denies Uighurs religious freedom, and by extension freedom of association, assembly, and expression. Chinese policy and law enforcement stifle religious activity and thought even in school and at home. One official document goes so far as to say that "parents and legal guardians may not allow minors to participate in religious activities."

U.N. calls for combating "defamation" of Islam
By Stephanie Nebehay 12 Apr 2005 Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12649701.htm
GENEVA, April 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations Commission on Human Rights called on Tuesday for combating defamation of religions, especially Islam, and condemned discrimination against Muslims in the West's war on terrorism. The 53-member state forum adopted a resolution, presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), deploring the intensification of a "campaign of defamation" against Muslims following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Western countries, including the United States and European Union (EU), voted against the text, calling it unbalanced for failing to address problems suffered by other religious groups.

Watchdog delays anti-terror report after government plea
By Jimmy Burns, Social Affairs Correspondent Financial Times
Published: April 13 2005
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/68eac188-abb8-11d9-893c-00000e2511c8.html
Europe's human rights watchdog has agreed to delay the publication of a controversial report on UK conduct in the war on terror after receiving a request from the government. A draft version of the report was handed to the government three weeks ago for ministers to respond prior to its scheduled publication on April 20. But, instead, the foreign office has told Alvaro Gil Robles, the author of the report and commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, that it would not be "appropriate" for ministers to comment on the report during an election campaign.

Three Britons face US charges of plotting terror attacks
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
13 April 2005 The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=628887
The US government has indicted three British men allegedly linked to al-Qa'ida for what officials here say was a serious and well-advanced plot to attack financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington DC. In a four-count indictment made public yesterday, Dhiran Barot, Nadeem Tarmohammed and Qaisar Shaffi are accused of scouting the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark, New Jersey, and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington to draw up plans to stage attacks. The three, all from Willesden in north west London, were arrested in Britain in August 2004 on similar charges and may face extradition to the US.