Posted on 04/23/2004 12:00:14 PM PDT by knighthawk
Home Secretary David Blunkett has promised to tighten anti-terror laws after an Algerian al Qaida suspect was released from prison on mental health grounds.
Mr Blunkett was plainly appalled at the ruling which he branded "extraordinary" and said others would consider it "bonkers". And a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said Downing Street regretted the release of the man known only as "G".
Mr Blunkett said he would be seeking a change in the law to prevent a recurrence of the legal challenge which left the 35-year-old effectively under house arrest.
Speaking on a visit to Birmingham, he told reporters: "Allowing someone like this out on bail is an extraordinary decision, which puts massive pressure on our anti-terror and security services, and sends a very different signal to the one we have been sending. I have not called it bonkers, but no doubt other people will."
The Algerian prisoner, thought to have "actively assisted" terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden's network, was freed from Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London because he was mentally ill.
His release came after the Special Immigration Appeal Commission (SIAC) accepted that his continuing detention under Mr Blunkett's controversial anti-terror laws was prolonging his illness.
The panel heard how G, who also suffers from polio, had become psychotic since his detention in December 2001.
Mr Blunkett said medical experts who assessed G had concluded that he did not require psychiatric accommodation. The prisoner had also been offered a place at a specially created unit for Muslim inmates at HMP Wood Hill, near Milton Keynes, but had refused.
Mr Blunkett said: "It is extraordinary to say that house arrest is satisfactory. This may be for those who are low-level, associated with people on the fringes. But we are talking about people who are agreed by the superior court of record to be a threat to life and liberty."
Asked if he was amazed at the judgment, Mr Blunkett replied: "I almost cease to be amazed these days by decisions which are sometimes taken, but we are very clear that we will have to amend the law to ensure that whatever steps are necessary to protect the public we can take."
Seems to me, you wouldn't want him running around loose, either way.
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