UK ends no-trial terror detentions
'House arrest' plan in wake of court ruling
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Detention of terror suspects without trial in Britain will be replaced with a system of "control orders," Home Secretary Charles Clarke has announced.
Clarke revealed plans for what could amount to a form of house arrest a month after Britain's top court ruled against the continued detention of nine of 12 foreign terrorist suspects held without trial.
The 12 suspects, mostly held at top security Belmarsh jail near London, will remain in custody pending changes to the law, Clarke said.
"We believe that those detained ... continue to pose a threat to national security and that we should seek to ensure that we take all of the necessary steps to address that threat," he told the House of Commons.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday police were expected to quiz four Britons who arrived back in the UK after being held for nearly three years at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Full story)
The new control orders would include curfews, tagging and even a requirement for suspects "to remain at their premises," Clarke said.
They will apply equally to foreign suspects and British citizens suspected of "international or domestic" terrorism, he told the House of Commons.
Clarke said: "Such orders would be preventative -- designed to disrupt those seeking to carry out attacks, whether here or elsewhere, or who are planning or otherwise supporting such activities."
Clarke said his was a twin-track approach.
The new orders will operate alongside a system of "deportation with assurances" -- the 12 foreign detainees could not be deported to their countries of origin as human rights laws bar officials removing from the UK anyone who may face death or torture.
Clarke said he would pursue agreements with north African and Middle East nations, from where most of the suspects originally hailed, so that they could return without such fears.
CNN's Robin Oakley said the control orders would have different gradations of restrictions for suspects but their movements and contacts would be restricted -- for example their being banned from using mobile phones or using the Internet.
In December, Britain's highest court ruled against the detention of foreign terrorism suspects without trial in a major blow to Tony Blair's government, which argued that the detention of some suspects was a tough but essential measure to protect the country from potential attacks.
The House of Lords had heard an appeal by nine of the 12 foreign detainees held in prison for up to three years under legislation rushed through after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Nine Law Lords ruled that the section of the anti-terrorism act under which the men were held was incompatible with the European Convention.
The detainees are from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
