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LONDON-Britain's upper house of parliament firmly rejected a government proposal to tighten anti-terrorism laws on Monday, saying it would not support suspects being held for up to six weeks without charge.In a vote carried by 309 to 118, the House of Lords defeated the government's Counter-Terrorism Bill, which would have allowed police to hold suspects for 42 days before having to charge or release them.The current limit is 28 days.The rejection is a setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labor party but had been expected following sustained criticism of the bill from senior members of the Lords, including former intelligence chief Eliza Manningham-Buller.Opponents, including many Labor members of the Lords, saw the proposed law changes as violating Britain's cherished civil liberties and out of line with other Western democracies where detention limits are already far shorter."This attempt to appear tough on terrorism, I believe, is a shabby charade which is unworthy of a democratic process and we should reject it," Geoffrey Dear, a former senior police chief, told the Lords ahead of the emphatic vote.Britain's home secretary (interior minister), Jacqui Smith, expressed disappointment at the Lords' move, saying they had the balance between civil liberties and the rule of law wrong."For me there is no greater individual liberty than the liberty for individuals not to be blown up on British streets or in British skies," she told the lower house of parliament, the House of Commons, after the vote."Some may take the security of Britain lightly. I don't." http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49C6XH20081014PS:I truly pray that they won't be hit with something worse than they already had to suffer....just because of parlamentary IDIOCY and DISBELIEF...
As in the days of Noah...
