JURIST - Paper Chase: Blair spars with rights groups over tougher UK anti-terror laws

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair Friday defended his decision to toughen Britain's anti-terror laws a day after Home Secretary Chatles Clarke released the text of new draft legislation [JURIST report] providing for extended detention without trial and making the "glorification" of terrorism an offense. Blair told BBC Radio [Radio 4 recorded audio] that if people wanted to come and live in the UK from abroad, they had do so without inciting people to kill others, and he denied that the anti-terror laws were any abrogation of civil liberties, as "people have always accepted that with rights come responsibilities." Opposition politicians and civil rights groups have, however, savaged the latest proposals. Human Rights Watch said [HRW press release] Friday that they undermined the rule of law and would punish people who had never been tried or even charged with any offence. Liberty UK has meanwhile called the proposed legislation "frighteningly broad" and "as dangerous to our freedoms as to our safety." Read the Liberty press release. Reuters has more. BBC News has local coverage.

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