By IRNA
London : The draft of counter-terrorism laws that has dominated the British government’s legislative programme for the past seven years has led to few extra convictions of terrorist suspects, according to the latest official figures.
Statistics compiled from police record by the offices of the National Coordinator for Terrorist Investigations list only 41 Terrorism Act convictions up until the end of March last year out of 1,165 arrests since 2001, less than three per cent.
In contrast, other legislation including murder and explosives offences, conspiracies, firearms, grievous bodily harm and other related offences have produced 183 convictions of terrorist suspects, more than four times as many.
The figures also show that out of a total of 1,228 arrests of terror suspects, including those under other legislation, only 132 has been charged with Terrorism Act offences only and 109 with terrorism and other criminal offences.
More were charged under other laws, including 195 with murder, grievous bodily harms, firearms, explosives, fraud or false documents, and another 76 were handed over to immigration authorities.
Of the total number of terrorist suspects being arrested between September 11, 2001, and March 31, 2007, more than half were released without any charges.
Publication of the low percentage rates comes as the British government is trying to pass a further round of counter-terrorism legislation through parliament, including most controversially, extending pre-charge detentions from 28 days to six weeks.