Thirteen men arrested in an anti-terrorist swoop faced questioning yesterday following a series of raids which police said were part of a continuing investigation.
The arrests brought complaints from the Muslim community that it was being targeted unfairly -- a claim supported by a parliamentary report released yesterday.
The men, in their 20s and 30s, were arrested in London, Bushey, Luton and Blackburn.
All were arrested "on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," and were brought to London for questioning, the Metropolitan Police said.
Police released no details of the nationality and religious affiliation of those arrested, but news reports yesterday suggested that at least some of the suspects are of south Asian origin and are Muslims.
"There is a feeling in the community that they are being victimized," said Yasin Rehman of the Luton Council of Mosques. One of Tuesday's arrests was in Luton, 50km north of London.
Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights supported that complaint, and called for changes in the emergency laws enacted soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US.
"There is mounting evidence that the powers under the Terrorism Act are being used disproportionately against members of the Muslim community in the UK," the committee reported.
The UK opted out from a part of the European Convention on Human Rights to enact legislation to allow some suspects to be imprisoned without trial.
"If the threat from international terrorism is to continue for the foreseeable future, the committee considers that an alternative way must be found to deal with that threat without derogating indefinitely from important human rights considerations," the legislators reported.
The arrests did not appear to be linked to information Pakistani authorities recently said they had uncovered about threats to the UK and US.
Pakistan's information minister said on Monday his country found plans for new attacks against the US and UK on a computer seized during the arrest last month of a senior al-Qaeda suspect wanted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa.
Asked whether the arrests on Tuesday were linked to the recent Pakistani discovery, UK police declined to answer directly, but noted that the investigation leading to the arrests had been underway for some time.
Police will have up to two weeks to hold the men arrested on Tuesday before deciding whether to charge them.
UK authorities say the threat from terrorism remains high, but they have not warned of any specific threat like that announced in the US.
The intelligence behind the latest US terror warnings was as much as four years old, and law enforcement officials are trying to determine whether the plot was current.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS