Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (Continuance in force of sections 1 to 9) Order 2007

My Lords, I apologise for arriving late for the start of this debate and, in particular, to the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, whose opening remarks I missed. I support him because I do not believe that democracy and civil and cohesive society in this country can be for a long time defended by what amount to totalitarian methods. I was greatly encouraged today by reading the principal editorial article in the International Herald Tribune, which urged the American Government to restore habeas corpus; to stop illegal spying and interception of communications without warrant; to ban torture; to close CIA prisons; to account for ghost prisoners, who had disappeared; to ban extraordinary rendition; and to define what they mean by an ““enemy combatant””. Finally, they should screen all prisoners held in a fair way, whether by the military, the CIA or other security agencies. I urge the Government to honour the undertakings that they have given in particular to this House in the past and to reflect very carefully on our long experience of terrorism in Northern Ireland. We were faced there by two main brands of terrorism and quite a large number of small splinter groups, yet we have abandoned detention and on the whole proceeded under rules of law by prosecuting those guilty of terrorism. So I support the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia.