Socialist Resistance

An archive of socialistresistance.org, 2002–2022

Met man hypes up threat

Socialist Resistance no23  |  page 2

This is scanned newsprint, not web text. The original PDFs carried no text layer at all, so every word here was read off the page by OCR. Expect dropped opening letters, run-together words and wrong characters. There was no contents page to cut the paper up by, so the articles were found from the size of their headlines: a headline may carry its kicker, and where an article ran beside a boxed panel a few lines of the neighbour can appear. The scanned issue is the authority; this text is here so the words can be found at all.

UNTIL ROVIN

REFER

ThE ANTI. TENCORINN LAWS NOW!

In a desperate effort to whip up a media panic to help drive through the new Prevention of Terrorism Act, former Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens has thrown his weight behind Tony Blair's legislation.

Stevens claims in the News of the world that there are at least 100 Osama Bin Ladentrained terrorists walking Britain's streets. The number is probably nearer 200 ... the cunning of al-Qaeda means we can't be exact"

The article is illustrated with a predictable stereotype picture of fanatical Muslim extremists

Stevens claims to have seen the "intelligence" reports on the group of "al-Qaeda's spintual leaders who have been locked up in top security Belmarsh prison." Of course he fails to mention that much of this "intelligence" comes from the same sources which got it so wrong over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The same sources have also brought us ludicrous and lurid stories of ricin in North London, plans to blow up Manchester United, and repeated scares and alerts at Heathrow and elsewhere.

What of the powers already Taken by the government in the aftermath of 9/11? The Independent Race and Refugee News Network reports that in the three years up to last autumn, 609 people were arrested under the Anti-terrorism Act 2000

But just 99 of them were charged with terrorist offences, and only fifteen of these convicted, six of them members of illegal Loyalist groups. Of the 15 convicted, just three were Muslims, while 21 Muslims whose cases went to court saw the case dropped or collapse.

Perhaps even more damning is the revelation that few of the Belmarsh prisoners, or those held without charge or trial in Guantanamo have even been questioned by police for information on any terrorist activity.

Stevens article makes clear that Labour's legislation could result in upwards of 100 more people being arrested and held in similar fashion, denied any right to prove their innocence, and ignored for months of years on end by the forces that are supposed to be preventing terrorism on the streets.