anti-terrorism law suspended in britain

THE British government has suspended its anti-terror legislation allowing people to be searched by police without good reason after European judges ruled it was unlawful.
Home Secretary Theresa May, according to Agence France Presse (AFP) yesterday, said she was introducing interim guidelines for police, stating they could only use stop and search powers if they reasonably suspect the person of terror-related activities.
She was responding to a European Court of Human Rights judgment earlier this year that Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows police to search people without suspicion, was illegal.
"Officers will no longer be able to search individuals using Section 44 powers. Instead, they will have to rely on Section 43 powers, which require officers to reasonably suspect the person to be a terrorist," May told the House of Commons.
"And officers will only be able to use section 44 in relation to the searches of vehicles.
"I will only confirm these authorisations where they are considered to be necessary - and officers will only be able to use them when they have 'reasonable suspicion'."
The new guidelines will be in place until a wide-ranging review of counter-terrorism legislation has been conducted by Prime Minister David Cameron's new coalition government, she said.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil liberties group, Liberty, welcomed the move, saying Section 44 had "criminalised and alienated more people than it ever protected."
"It is a blanket and secretive power that has been used against school kids, journalists, peace protesters and a disproportionate number of young black men," she said.
"To our knowledge, it has never helped catch a single terrorist. This is a very important day for personal privacy, protest rights and race equality in Britain."
In a unanimous ruling in January, seven European Court judges said the searches breached the complainants' right to respect for their private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
May said the government could not appeal the ruling but would not have done so even if it wanted to.
Meanwhile, a London court yesterday convicted three men of conspiracy to murder in a case linked to a 2006 plot to blow up transatlantic jet planes.
Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman, all from London, were found guilty by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court in the capital and could face life imprisonment.
They were last year tried in connection with a 2006 plot to blow up seven transatlantic planes flying from Britain to North America using liquid explosives.
The discovery of the plot led to strict new rules about carrying liquids on commercial flights.
The three were cleared of specifically targeting airlines but prosecutors put them on trial again on charges of unspecified conspiracy to murder, based on "martyrdom videos" they recorded threatening attacks on western targets.
Similarly, three suspected al-Qaeda members were arrested yesterday for what Norwegian and United States officials said was a terrorist plot linked to similar plans to bomb New York's subway and blow up a shopping mall in England.
The three men, whose names were not released, had been under surveillance for more than a year. Two were arrested in Norway and one in Germany. Officials would not say what country or site was the target of the latest terror threat.
Officials believe the men were planning attacks with portable but powerful bombs like the ones at the heart of last year's failed suicide attack in the New York City subway - an attack U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called one of the most serious terrorist plots since 9/11.

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