The London Blasts: Media Review

DAY 98: 13 October 2005

Contents

Realism - Bin Laden's Bodyguard

Repression - Foreign Office Survey Finds New UK Laws More Repressive Than Continental Countries

Repression Realism - Seamus Milne

Repression - Ricin Amnesia Again

Repression - The Hearing / Not Hearing Device

Repression - ID Cards Information To Be Shared Out

REALISM - BIN LADEN'S BODYGUARD

Today, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an important inquiry into the Yemeni 'conversion' method of turning al-Qaeda fighters into 'moderate' Muslims: 'Yemen: Using Islam to fight terror' appeared in the Crossing Continents slot this week. The programme will be repeated, will feature on tonight's Newsnight, and is available online with the correct software.

Interviewing Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard, Nasser al-Bahri, BBC journalist Tim Whewell discovers that he is entirely unrepentant and as militant in his views as ever, despite having been officially 'converted' and released from jail.

Al-Bahri justifies the 9/11 attacks by saying that the people of the United States live in a bubble, and they needed to know where their government was leading them. There are also important comments by Sheikh Abdel-majid al-Zindani, a revered cleric and a Yemeni politician, who is branded as a terrorist mastermind by the West.

No transcription is available online, and we haven't had time to transcribe these parts of the programme.

REPRESSION

BLAIR'S OWN GOAL: BRITAIN MORE NOT LESS REPRESSIVE THAN CONTINENT

This is delicious. Tony Blair was frustrated at the state of British anti-terror legislation and commissioned a study to demonstrate that Britain was weak on terrorism compared to its European neighbours. The results have turned out to be unwelcome:

'British police will have the toughest powers in Europe to detain suspects without charge, a Foreign Office comparison of counter-terror laws reveals. The study, ordered by Tony Blair, was supposed to bolster the government's case for its anti-terror legislation by showing how moderate the new proposals in Britain were compared with continental equivalents.'

'In fact, the dossier shows the opposite: police in countries such as France and Spain can detain suspects without charge for less time than the 14 days the British police are allowed at present - a substantially less time than the three months proposed under the anti-terrorism bill.' (Guardian, page 6)

In France the maximum period of police detention is four days while in Spain it is 13 days pre-charge. 'But in both cases once suspects are charged and handed over to the judicial authorities, they can be held for between two and four years before they have to come to trial.' During this period, the person charged can continue to be questioned by the prosecutor, which is not possible after charging in the UK, said the Foreign Office.

In Australia, the pre-charge period is 'only 168 hours.'

'The survey also shows that Britain will be out on a limb in Europe if it presses ahead with its plan to deport terror suspects back to countries where they may face a risk of torture or ill-treatment.' (Guardian, page 6)

There is a table comparing the practices in relation to detention without charge and expulsion to countries with risk of torture in various countries in the paper Guardian - it doesn't seem to be online. Here are some highlights:

Expulsion to countries with risk of torture

France Those given political asylum cannot be deported

Germany Deportation not possible

Greece Deportation can be suspended if there is force majeure, humanitarian grounds or other exceptional reasons [force majeure has been defined as 'Acts of God and other specified risks (eg terrorism) which are beyond the control of the parties to the contract and as a result of which a party is prevented from or delayed in performing any of its non-financial obligations under the contract.']

Italy 1998 legislation provides explicit protection against expulsion where individual may be persecuted

Norway The authorities may not expel anyone who is in considerable danger of losing their life or suffering inhumane treatment

Spain Simple assurance that torture will not take place will not do

REPRESSION REALISM - SEAMUS MILNE

Very sensible comments in the Guardian today from Comments Editor Seamus Milne, including the following points:

'Any operational benefit to the police [from the new terror laws] is bound to be more than offset by the further alienation of exactly those sections of the Muslim community whose cooperation is needed to prevent more atrocities. If peaceful organisations are banned, Muslims are routinely locked up without charge and support for mainstream Muslim causes is criminalised, some will certainly be intimidated and keep their heads down. But others will conclude that participation in politics is pointless, that the tolerance and liberal democracy proclaimed by the political establishment is a fraud - and go underground. It is in everybody's interests that parliament resists a panic measure which threatens us all.'

'... under the terms of the bill, anyone who voices support for armed resistance to any state or occupation, however repressive or illegitimate, will be committing a criminal offence carrying a seven-year prison sentence - so long as members of the public might reasonably regard it as direct or indirect encouragement.'

'Terrorism is not defined in the bill as, say, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, let alone an assault on civilian targets by states - but as any politically motivated violence against people, property or electronic systems anywhere in the world.'

'This is not only an assault on freedom of speech and debate about the most contentious subject in global politics.'

'It also makes a criminal offence out of a belief shared by almost every society, religion or philosophy throughout history: namely, that people have the right to take up arms against tyranny and foreign occupation. Clarke made clear on Tuesday that this was exactly his intention. He could not, he said, think of any situation in the world where "violence would be justified to bring about change".'

The title of this comment is 'This law won't fight terror - it is an incitement to terrorism'. Subtitle: 'Censorship, internment and bans on non-violent political parties will increase the likelihood of further attacks in Britain'.

REPRESSION - RICIN AMNESIA AGAIN

It is so prevalent that it is probably pointless objecting, but here is yet another misrepresentation of the 'ricin'/'no-ricin' case, this time in The Times:

'The police desire for a new offence of “acts preparatory to terrorism” is also quite understandable. The acquittal of all but one of those accused in the “ricin plot” suggests that the ancient offence of “causing a public nuisance” may not have adequately reflected the gravity of the threat.'

But the original charge was much more serious, and this nonsense charge was substituted because there was no evidence that murder or serious injury on any scale was intended or even possible by the acts alleged to be contemplated. (See our briefing, again.)

REPRESSION - THE HEARING/NOT HEARING DEVICE

Armando Iannucci, the comedian, has a satirical and whimsical column in the Telegraph, but seems to have been permanently radicalised by the Iraq war (he wrote a passionate op-ed urging Telegraph readers to attend the 15 February demonstration in 2003). Today he has a fine critique (page 19) of one of Tony Blair's favourite rhetorical devices:

'Every now and then I get sent e-mails that begin "I know you're very busy, but I wondered if you could just..." The senders are usually researchers from television production companies requesting an appearance on a television programme like The Top Five Hundred Oats Commercials of All Time or When Celebrities Fire Puppies From A Cannon.'

'But that's irrelevant. What interests me is the ploy used in the opening gambit: "I know you're very busy, but..." '

'This is an example of a devious communication strategy I've noticed is becoming more common now, namely the attempt to make a problem disappear simply by acknowledging it.'

'The sender seems to think that the solution to the problem that I'm very busy is simply to say that he knows this.'

'As if, somehow, by his saying I'm very busy, I'll quite magically stop being very busy and have fresh quantities of free time to appear on When Headbutts Go Wrong or whatever goat's mess of a programme he's working on.'

'It's a technique politicians use a lot. For example, here's Tony Blair in his Labour conference speech defending recent anti-terror legislation: "The whole of our [justice] system starts from the proposition that its duty is to protect the innocent from being wrongly convicted. Don't misunderstand me. That must be the duty of any criminal justice system. But surely our primary duty should be to allow law-abiding people to live in safety." '

'Now read it again and see how deftly he wants us to think he's dealt with the problem of human rights simply by acknowledging that human rights exist.'

'Resolving a problem by re-stating the obvious is an increasingly popular conversational gambit. For example, how many times have you phoned up a monolithic corporation to complain about bad service, practically spewing tears as you relive the 15-month frustration you've just been through, only to be told: "I hear what you're saying"?'

'As if, though on the phone with you, they weren't hearing what you were saying but were in fact hearing what a Tweenie was saying, or even doing something entirely unconnected with hearing what someone was saying, like launching a cruise liner or putting sausage-meat inside a car battery.'

'Of course they are hearing what you're saying, but it's no more effective a solution to your problem than declaring: "I'm sitting on my buttocks." '

REPRESSION - IDENTITY CARDS

ID CARDS - OUR INFORMATION TO BE SHARED OUT

'Councils, Whitehall departments and firms running public services will routinely share personal data about citizens by 2010, acccording to leaked documents seen by the Guardian.'

'The plans, drawn up by the Cabinet Office, could cause anger among privacy campaigners. The documents suggest that identity cards, expected to be issued from 2008, will play a big role in data sharing.' (Guardian, Michael Cross, 'Leak reveals Whitehall plans for data shareout', page 10)

'To redesign public services, the strategy proposes:'

'Identity cards. "Identity management is a subject whose time has now arrived." Government is leading the debate on identity cards, and will be using it as part of a "suite of identity management solutions" to enable public and private sectors to provide cost-effective electronic services.'

'Data sharing will increase under new proposals. "The opportunity from information sharing will be clarified and rolled out, balancing the potential value to the customer or taxpayer with privacy concerns," says the strategy.'

'It will involve government bodies routinely exchanging personal data about individuals, with the proposed national identity card set to play a major role.'

'... the strategy is less about hardware and software than about changing the way public services are run. In line with Labour reforms in education and the NHS, IT should underpin a "transformed government" in which "boundaries ... between central and local, and between public, private and voluntary continue to be less important and less visible" than today.'

(Guardian, Michael Cross, 'Our failures are behind us, promise ministers', Technology section)

Nothing to fear from the ID Card/Database system if you're not guilty of a crime? How about your private data (which may be error-ridden) being exchanged between Government departments and private companies (possibly to your detriment).

JNV welcomes feedback.