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British government to allow police to lock up people for 42 days without charge

by Jason Sanders | October 1, 2008 at 08:39 am

253 views | 12 Recommendations | 9 comments

A Bill is being proposed that would allow British police to lock you up for 42 days without a charge, just on the basis of "terror threat." A petition organized by Protect the Human that protests the Bill has already garnered 1201 signatures within a day of being posted.

Allowing police to lock people up for a month-and-a-half without charge will undermine basic human rights to which everyone in the UK is entitled. It will also damage community relations, make intelligence gathering more difficult and possibly ruin the lives of innocent people. This Bill needlessly sacrifices important civil liberties but gains nothing in the way of security.

The only way to convince MPs to vote against 42 days is to show them how many of their constituents are against this unnecessary and counter-productive piece of legislation.

Under the Act, terror suspects can be detained up to 28 days - which the government wants to extend to 42 days in "special circumstances".

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Barbara McPherson

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 08:45 on October 1st, 2008

Jason Sanders, I like this story. It's good stuff. Terrorists don't have to lift a finger when the people are so scared of a threat that they give up their hard won rights.

Jason Sanders

at 12:00 on October 1st, 2008

Yup, they do inflict much more harm than they directly cause. Thanks for the GS!

bnixon

at 11:45 on October 1st, 2008

i spotted this image as i was walking through downtown asheville, north carolina.

bnixon has contributed a photo to this story.

giackx

at 12:37 on October 1st, 2008

I remember this jail in the film "I n the name of the father "
the film by Jim Sheridan. with Emma Thompson, Daniel Day-Lewis, John Lynch. In a mine recently trip in Dublin i, visit this jail, i can assure you, you feel a lot of anguish if you think to the condition of the prisoners... ( i'm sorry for my bad english language...) Ciao

giackx has contributed a photo to this story.

iollusion

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:25 on October 1st, 2008

Jason Sanders, I like this story. It's good stuff. A bill like this should not suppose to come up to the surface. Human rights are at stake here.

Jason Sanders

at 16:38 on October 1st, 2008

Absolutely. I understand that they value security, but risk is all apart of being a free country.

Sylvieblissplace

at 17:30 on October 1st, 2008

The ironworks on a bridge in Ghent (Belgium) made me feel looking at the canal from a jail. I thought it was a another way of seeing this touristic place. I support your personal investisment against this new measure.

Sylvieblissplace has contributed a photo to this story.