Why Should Terror Suspects Be Allowed Their Freedom?

[pdq1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20882357

Yet again another suspect has escaped surveylance and is now roaming the country and able to plot terrorist acts. Qatada is in a similar position watched by the security services but could he also do the bunk.

We cannot lock them up as they're not charged with anything and even if we did MI5 who need to disclose secret information.

Should the law be changed so that preference is for the good of the country not for a sole individual. How does the US deal with cases like these?

[Gromit]

Abu Qatarda has been locked up for the best part of the last decade. He hasn't been charged with anything but it has cost us about £10million anyway. Is a dodgy beard worth £10million? And there are tens or hundreds like him. If you want to waste hundreds of millions (£) to lock up people whose only crime is not really like us, then that is up to you.

I would sooner that money went to doctors, nurses and paying for care for the elderly. But if you would sooner pay for persecuting religious loonies while AOPs die of neglect, that is up to you..

[rojash]

Oh yeah, chuck in jail anyone who's suspected of anything. Maybe you should go live in China or Russia?

[anotheoldgit]

/// If you want to waste hundreds of millions (£) to lock up people whose only crime is not really like us, then that is up to you. ///

Yes gromit I totally agree with you, if we were to lock up people whose only crime is to not really like us, then there would be some regular contributors to Answerbank missing. :0)

[emmie]

if you consider this country a democracy then it would go against the principle of it to put people in jail for having those thoughts, even if we believe they are up to no good. It is up to the judiciary to find them guilty of a crime, once that happens, if it happens, then they can be sent to prison. If the British security services know that the likes of Abu Quatada are terrorists, or have committed terrorist related crimes then they should do their job, if not then there is little one can do. There are many people in Britain who seem to hate life here, and the people in it, so why do they not go someplace that is more in accord with their lifestyle choices. Perhaps it is because they know if they leave the safe haven that is Britain for the likes of Jordan, then they could well end up in jail, tortured or perhaps killed, there is no way of knowing. Having said that i wish the man to go and take his family with him, already cost this country dear, and quite frankly appears to revel in his notoriety.

[pdq1]

Gromit putting surveylance on Qatada for the rest of his life will cost much more than if he were locked up.

[emmie]

perhaps so, but if he hasn't actually committed a crime, what should the law do?

[Gladeian]

It is truly unjust and costly to imprison foreign persons in the UK who are suspected of terrorism or links thereto. The answer is simple - deport them.

[emmie]

seems to be hard to do, EU has something to say i am sure about this.

[anotheoldgit]

/// The answer is simple - deport them. ///

If only we could, perhaps in the future when we have thrown off the shackles of the EU, that is of course if some of us are not blown up by then.

[emmie]

you have to weigh up the facts, are they suspected or actual terrorists. Are they wanted in UK or other countries for terrorist crimes, or are the security forces just keeping an eye on them. What you fail to grasp is that these men or women can take the Government, British taxpayer for a small fortune if it shows they had no hand in any terrorist activity, more importantly that it couldn't be proven conclusively. Millions have been paid to terror suspects, because there wasn't a cast iron case against them.

[jno]

deport all Brazilian electricians, definitely; they are notorious for looking like terrorists