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UK may intern terror suspects without trial, says London mayor

IRNA

London, Dec 1, IRNA -- London Mayor Ken Livingstone controversially 
suggested Monday for the first time that new terrorist suspects may be
interned in the UK without trial when claiming that police and 
security services had foiled four attempted attacks in the capital. 
"We have intercepted four attempts that were under plan to 
actually cause mayhem and take life in this city," Livingstone was 
quoted saying by London`s Evening Standard without giving further 
details. 
"If you look at all these times when there is a swoop and people 
are arrested, you have never heard anything about it because I think 
they are only just about to come to trial," he said. 
But the mayor, who is briefed without having any operational 
control over the police, added, "Some may never come to trial -- they 
will just be interned, permanently detained." 
The UK has so far detained 16 non-British Muslims indefinitely 
without trial or charge under anti-terrorism laws rushed through 
parliament at the end of 2001 following the September 11 attacks in 
the US. 
Eight were detained in December 2001, one in February 2002, two in
April 2002, one in October 2002, one in November 2002, two in January 
2002 and one in October 2003. 
To do so, the British government had to derogate from article five
of the European convention on human rights banning detention without 
trial. 
But the justification used for the internment of foreign nationals
suspected of terrorism was for those who cannot be deported from the 
UK on grounds of safety and `for whom a criminal prosecution is not 
an option`. 
HC/AH/210 
End