Comment Re:Pardon the obvious... (Score 1) 733
You're right - you can charge someone then a judge can deny bail and remand in custody - but that isn't germane to the point of the planned legislation.
Currently, to be charged there needs to be sufficient evidence in the hands of the Police that they can go to the Crown Prosecution Service who then decide whether it's going to Court or not.
Under the planned, and thankfully failed, legislation (and the amendment which sadly was passed - at least in the Commons, it's still got to get past the Lords), the Police can hold you WITHOUT charge and WITHOUT evidence.
It's an attempt to get a fishing licence. 'Your face looks funny so we'll throw you in a Remand cell and then go looking for a reason why'.
There's a word for what El Presidente Blair and Josif Vissionarovich Clarke are trying to to, and that word is Internment. It's been tried before on these shores, and proved to be a hugely fertile recruiting ground for militants.
The illusion that this is in any way similar to any form of proper Judicial process is one that El Presidente and his morons^Wminions^WMinisters have tried hard to produce - and, thankfully, failed. Unfortunately, they have managed to convince the tabloid-reading population. The Sun, that revered repository of unbiased information, yesterday referred to MPs who voted against the bill as 'Traitors'.
This was - and is - a blatant attack on civil liberties, using terrorism as the bogeyman the same way that Communism was used by McCarthy. A raghead under every bed?
So please - don't be fooled. This has nothing to do with charging someone then remanding them in custody, and EVERYTHING to do with moving towards creating political prisoners and internment. It's not the same, and it certainly isn't Justice.
Currently, to be charged there needs to be sufficient evidence in the hands of the Police that they can go to the Crown Prosecution Service who then decide whether it's going to Court or not.
Under the planned, and thankfully failed, legislation (and the amendment which sadly was passed - at least in the Commons, it's still got to get past the Lords), the Police can hold you WITHOUT charge and WITHOUT evidence.
It's an attempt to get a fishing licence. 'Your face looks funny so we'll throw you in a Remand cell and then go looking for a reason why'.
There's a word for what El Presidente Blair and Josif Vissionarovich Clarke are trying to to, and that word is Internment. It's been tried before on these shores, and proved to be a hugely fertile recruiting ground for militants.
The illusion that this is in any way similar to any form of proper Judicial process is one that El Presidente and his morons^Wminions^WMinisters have tried hard to produce - and, thankfully, failed. Unfortunately, they have managed to convince the tabloid-reading population. The Sun, that revered repository of unbiased information, yesterday referred to MPs who voted against the bill as 'Traitors'.
This was - and is - a blatant attack on civil liberties, using terrorism as the bogeyman the same way that Communism was used by McCarthy. A raghead under every bed?
So please - don't be fooled. This has nothing to do with charging someone then remanding them in custody, and EVERYTHING to do with moving towards creating political prisoners and internment. It's not the same, and it certainly isn't Justice.
