Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, has been ruled unlawful by the European court of human rights
Owen Bowcott
Police will need fresh powers enabling them to stop and search people at the Olympics opening ceremony, and in other sensitive circumstances, the government’s independent adviser on terrorism law is expected to warn today.
Lord Carlile, who is due to deliver a keynote speech at Dorchester Abbey, near Oxford, this evening, will argue that a replacement is needed for section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which has been ruled unlawful by the European court of human rights. That section, which allows officers to stop and search people without grounds for suspicion, has been at the heart of disputes between civil rights lawyers and ministers.
Carlile, a former Lib Dem MP, was appointed as the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation in 2005. He has been criticised for his defence of control orders, which restrict individuals to virtual house arrest on the basis of secret evidence.
In his lecture – entitled Terrorism: have we got the law right? –Carlile will call for the number of control orders to be reduced but will insist they were necessary in the absence of any acceptable legal alternatives for dealing with the detention of terrorist suspects who cannot be prosecuted.
But his most controversial comments will be in relation to section 44 powers which expanded rapidly between 2004 and 2008 when they were used to question people more than 117,200 times. He will suggest that section 43 powers, which allow police to stop and search people if they have reasonable suspicions, should be more widely used insteadby counterterrorism officers. But he will contend that officers must be able to stop and search people on a broader and more random basis in certain limited types of circumstances.
The powers, he will propose, would have to be compatible with the law and restricted to three categories:
• Rapidly developing incidents such as in the context of counter-terrorism operations where arrests are being made.
• In relation to restricted and sensitive infrastructure, such as places where international telephone lines come on to British shores.
• National events where a risk assessment indicates a potential terrorist threat (such as the Olympics opening ceremony.
Carlile will also address the political debate over the length of time terrorist suspects can be held for questioning before being charged. The last government extended the period from 14 to 28 days in the face of fierce opposition from civil liberties groups.
Carlile will accept the need to retain the 28-day limit but request increased judicial oversight of the process, believing that in practice it will rarely be used.
On “deportation with assurances” arrangements that enable the removal from Britain of those certified as international terror suspects, Carlile is expected to endorse their use.
Some of these individuals, he will say, cannot be deported forcibly because the regimes to which they would be returned cannot be relied on to respect human rights.
The special immigration appeals commission , the secretive court that deals with deportation on grounds of national security, needs to reconsider how to deal with these cases, Carlile will say.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2010/jun/24/stop-and-search-police-rights, 24 June 2010