By KUNA
London : The British government was facing fresh calls Thursday for new curbs on the use of control orders used to restrict the movements of terrorist suspects.
The joint House of Commons and House of Lords Human Rights Committee said that it was “imperative” that the law was changed when MPs come to debate the renewal of the control order (limited house arrest) regime later today.
In a report rushed out ahead of the debate, the committee called for a maximum time limit on the duration of control orders as well as a limit on the daily curfews imposed by the orders to 12 hours.
The committee chairman, Labour MP Andrew Dismore said that they would now be tabling amendments to the legislation.
The report echoed a call earlier this week from Lord Carlile, the British government’s independent reviewer of terror legislation, who said the orders should be imposed for a maximum of two years unless there are “exceptional circumstances.” The committee said that it had discovered that seven of the 15 people currently subject to control orders had been in that position for more than two years and that two had been under control orders for almost three years.
Dismore said in a statement that unless the control order regime was changed it would continue to give rise to human rights breaches.
“We should seek to prosecute people for terrorism, not subject them to a form of house arrest. We do not want to create Guantanamo martyrs on British soil,” the chairman of the committee added.