British government floats plans for secret trials of terrorist suspects

[Judi Lynn]

British government floats plans for secret trials of terrorist suspects

JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
Monday, February 2, 2004


(02-02) 02:55 PST LONDON (AP) --

The British government said Monday that it is considering giving courts the power to try terrorist suspects in secret and without juries -- proposals condemned by civil liberties groups.

Home Secretary David Blunkett published a discussion paper outlining changes to existing anti-terrorist laws. They include secret trials in which judges and lawyers would be cleared beforehand by the intelligence services.

There is also a proposal to allow judges to convict suspects on a lower standard of proof than in normal criminal trials, where guilt must be proven "beyond reasonable doubt." The proposal would allow judges to convict if they thought "on a balance of probabilities" a suspect was guilty.

The civil rights group Liberty said the plans were "wholly unacceptable."

"Simply introducing more laws, greater powers and stiffer penalties will go a long way to undermining British justice and will not make our country any safer," said campaigns director Mark Littlewood.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/02/international0555EST0467.DTL

[rooboy]

1. They start a war using dodgy intelligence...

and now they want us to trust them with THIS?? Not a chance.

[0007]

4. Ah man, the trials have to secret.

If not the Keystone kops will blow their cover.

....and the intelligent dots could lead to 911 - I'm still amazed at how swiftly intelligence gathered all the information on the 911 hijackers. Less than forty eight hours? The only thing missing was zip codes!

[IndianaGreen]

2. Secret trials for "terrorists" today

Secret trials for dissidents tomorrow.

One step closer to tyranny!

[legin]

3. The Daily Telegraph called them pre-emptive trials

In other news I have just been just be done for speeding in my car.

I haven't actually passed my driving test yet, although I have learnt to drive but I havn't got a car.

Although the charge sheet says I will be speeding in 2013, so it could be a possibility. I havn't had any charges for any other types of speeding though, well not yet anyway.

The good news is that it is quite an unexpectedly good car I have got in 2013, so something has changed in my life somewhere.