SchNEWS ROUNDS UP THEUSUALSUSPECTS IN ANOTHER CRACKDOWNE
Just when they thought that you weren’t looking, Neo Labour is have another bash at any piddling law getting in the way of their crackdown on er ‘terrorists’. This time the Counter Terrorism Bill proposes to introduce a range of new powers to share (or lose) data, imprison people without charge for longer periods of time and generally broaden the meaning of the word ‘terrorism’ and the police’s power to do whatever they want about it.
Whilst most attention has been given to the proposal to hold people for up to 42 days without charge (three times longer than in 2005 – and longest in the western world), little attention has been given to some of the other clauses in the Bill such as the new rules that will apply to Coroners courts. At the moment a coroner is legally obliged to call an inquest into any violent, unnatural or unexplained death on their patch. The hearings are always held in public, with a jury, and must always be convened in certain circumstances such as deaths in police or prison custody.
Apparently the ‘fresh look’ at the regulations that we were promised following the police murder of Jean Charles Menezes (see SchNEWS 552) has resulted – not in more openness – but a proposal to prevent coroners calling an inquest into such cases in the future. The Home Secretary will be given the powers to make any investigation secret if it is in the interests of national security, international relations or any other public interest to do so.
S/he will also be able make their own appointments to coroner’s courts to make sure any results are ‘on message’ should it be difficult to hold a hearing away from the public glare.
The coroner system was set up more than 1,000 years ago – hardly a time when you could have called Britain a democracy – yet Neo Labour in one breath talks about our ‘progressive democratic principles transcending the world’ and in another trashes centuries old protections against the dictatorial power of the state. As if to demonstrate just how sneaky the government is, ministers failed to mention this proposal in a bill that’s going through parliament that specifically deals with reform of the coroners system!
So next time MI5 have a shoot out with a terrorist suspect and accidentally kill a civilian – no one is going to investigate, and there’ll be no inconvenient need to prove guilt. Ditto for the police; although the public may need some more PR-led convincing before they accept that black people just have more fatal ‘accidents’ whilst in the local nick than their white counterparts. The new powers are not restricted to terrorism cases and could be applied to cases of deaths where no link with extremism is suspected.
And if that’s not enough, the Bill grants the Home Secretary powers to change certain provisions of the legislation without reference to parliament – just in case that definition of terrorism ever needs widening some more… Not to worry though because Home Secretary Jaqui Smith has declared that the proposals are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights and, besides, will only be used sparingly. Honest!
SchNEWS ROUNDS UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS IN ANOTHER CRACKDOWNE
Just when they thought that you weren’t looking, Neo Labour is have another bash at any piddling law getting in the way of their crackdown on er ‘terrorists’. This time the Counter Terrorism Bill proposes to introduce a range of new powers to share (or lose) data, imprison people without charge for longer periods of time and generally broaden the meaning of the word ‘terrorism’ and the police’s power to do whatever they want about it.
Whilst most attention has been given to the proposal to hold people for up to 42 days without charge (three times longer than in 2005 – and longest in the western world), little attention has been given to some of the other clauses in the Bill such as the new rules that will apply to Coroners courts. At the moment a coroner is legally obliged to call an inquest into any violent, unnatural or unexplained death on their patch. The hearings are always held in public, with a jury, and must always be convened in certain circumstances such as deaths in police or prison custody.
Apparently the ‘fresh look’ at the regulations that we were promised following the police murder of Jean Charles Menezes (see SchNEWS 552) has resulted – not in more openness – but a proposal to prevent coroners calling an inquest into such cases in the future. The Home Secretary will be given the powers to make any investigation secret if it is in the interests of national security, international relations or any other public interest to do so.
S/he will also be able make their own appointments to coroner’s courts to make sure any results are ‘on message’ should it be difficult to hold a hearing away from the public glare.
The coroner system was set up more than 1,000 years ago – hardly a time when you could have called Britain a democracy – yet Neo Labour in one breath talks about our ‘progressive democratic principles transcending the world’ and in another trashes centuries old protections against the dictatorial power of the state. As if to demonstrate just how sneaky the government is, ministers failed to mention this proposal in a bill that’s going through parliament that specifically deals with reform of the coroners system!
So next time MI5 have a shoot out with a terrorist suspect and accidentally kill a civilian – no one is going to investigate, and there’ll be no inconvenient need to prove guilt. Ditto for the police; although the public may need some more PR-led convincing before they accept that black people just have more fatal ‘accidents’ whilst in the local nick than their white counterparts. The new powers are not restricted to terrorism cases and could be applied to cases of deaths where no link with extremism is suspected.
And if that’s not enough, the Bill grants the Home Secretary powers to change certain provisions of the legislation without reference to parliament – just in case that definition of terrorism ever needs widening some more… Not to worry though because Home Secretary Jaqui Smith has declared that the proposals are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights and, besides, will only be used sparingly. Honest!