Bill to expand terrorism laws advances in Britain

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown survived a crucial battle of wills with Parliament on Wednesday over expanding terrorism laws, securing initial approval for holding terrorism suspects as many as 42 days before they are charged or freed.

The legislation squeaked through the House of Commons by nine votes amid concerns it could threaten innocent citizens with the loss of their homes, jobs and social networks even if they are released after spending six weeks behind bars.

But the government suffered another embarrassing episode on the terrorism front: the discovery on the seat of a passenger train of the latest top-secret government intelligence assessment of Al Qaeda and a supposedly negative confidential assessment of Iraq’s security forces.

Those documents, lost by a senior intelligence official, had been reported missing and were the subject of an intense search when a passenger on the train found them Tuesday and gave them to the British Broadcasting Corp.

The BBC returned them to intelligence authorities -- but not before broadcasting news of the incident just as the terrorism bill debate got underway.

The increasingly unpopular Brown faces mounting dissent among his Labor Party ranks, and political discord has reached a high pitch over the counter-terrorism bill, which many Labor lawmakers see as a betrayal of the party’s commitment to civil rights.

About three dozen Laborites broke ranks and opposed the legislation, which passed only with the help of lawmakers from the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, which spent years combating terrorism by the Irish Republican Army.

The Conservative Party bucked popular support within its base for getting tough on terrorism and opposed the 42-day limit.

“Liberty is the common strand that binds us together, and we have shed blood to protect it, both abroad and at home. Today, the government asks us to shed some of that liberty,” said lawmaker David Davis, the opposition Conservative Party’s leader on law enforcement affairs.

Government officials, who pushed through the changes after months of lobbying and compromise, said the expanding number and complexity of terrorism plots made it necessary to give police more time to complete their investigations.

Brown told lawmakers that an alleged plot to bomb transatlantic airliners with liquid explosives uncovered in 2006 forced police to sift through the contents of 400 computers, 8,000 CDs and 25,000 exhibits. As a result, he said, several of the suspects in the case were detained for 27 days before being charged.

Government officials said they were monitoring more than 200 terrorist groups in Britain.

“The threat is more ruthless than any we have faced before. It aims for mass casualties, uses suicide methods and would use ‘dirty bombs’ if given half a chance,” Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said during Wednesday’s debate.

“Terrorists living and working in our society have learned how to use technology to cover their tracks. They travel a network, sharing experiences and learning from mistakes. Terrorist plots in this country now almost invariably involve multiple connections to many countries overseas. That alone creates huge technological and logistical challenges for investigators,” she said.

The amendments to the counter-terrorism law, approved on a vote of 315 to 306, extend an existing 28-day limit, which rights groups say is already the longest among developed, democratic nations. Opponents say the current law has sufficient leeway to allow exceptions to the 28-day limit in extraordinary cases.

The Muslim Council of Britain has warned that extending pre-charge detention could damage relations between young Muslims and the police and undermine Britain’s moral authority around the world.

In concessions in recent weeks to win passage, the government specified that the maximum 42-day detention period can be used only in cases in which there is a “grave, exceptional terrorist threat,” and Parliament must approve the extension within seven days. Defendants would be brought before a judge within 48 hours, who would review their detention weekly.

The revisions go to the House of Lords, where strong opposition and amendments are expected, resulting in their likely return to the House of Commons this year for another round of voting.

Opponents have said the European Court of Human Rights could decide that the legislation, if it is adopted, does not conform with European human rights law.

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kim.murphy@latimes.com