Proposals to crack down on Islamic extremists in Britain after the London bombings came under fire yesterday for sowing confusion, while a radical Muslim cleric who left for Lebanon at the weekend vowed to return.
John Denham, chairman of the House of Commons home affairs committee and a former Home Office minister from the governing Labour Party, said he was concerned about how a 12-point plan to curb civil liberties had been rushed out by Prime Minister Tony Blair without prior consultation.
"What is more worrying is the sense of slight panic that seems to be emanating from the government over the last few days," he told the Financial Times.
"After the bombings, there was a very sensible and measured approach recognizing things needed to be done and discussed," he said.
"The flurry of announcements over the last few days, many of which haven't been developed fully, gives the sense that the government is not fully in control of events and that's unfortunate," he said.
Three key suspects behind a failed attempt on July 21 to carry out copycat bombings in London on three subway trains and a double-decker bus have been remanded in custody until Nov. 14.
Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, 27, Ramzi Mohammed, 23, and Yassin Hassan Omar, 24, appeared in court on Monday amid high security, charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and possession of explosives.
In the latest details to emerge from Blair's anti-terrorist proposals, the Guardian and the Times dailies said Britain was mulling secret pre-trial hearings for terror suspects.
This French-style "inquisitorial" system of justice, in which a security-vetted judge would examine evidence without a jury to decide how long a suspect should be held without charge, would mark a huge departure from Britain's centuries-old "adversarial" process.
The idea came on top of reports on Monday that prosecutors will meet with police officers this week to explore whether radical Muslim clerics in Britain could be prosecuted for treason.
Such a step would be dramatic, as no one has been tried and convicted as a traitor in Britain since World War II.
One of the radical figures likely to come under scrutiny, Omar Bakri Mohammed, left Britain at the weekend for Lebanon, from where an aide said he would search for a country where he could practice his "Islamic duties."
Bakri himself declared, however, that he was "going to return back in four weeks unless the government says we are not welcome, because my family is in the United Kingdom."
The Syrian-born cleric sparked outrage last week when he said he would not inform police if he knew Muslims were planning a bomb attack on a train in Britain.
Meanwhile, British investigators went to Italy yesterday for what they hoped would be their first chance to quiz a suspected bomber detained in Rome.
Hamdi Issac, also known as Osman Hussain, was arrested in Rome last month and is being held there on international terrorism charges in connection with the failed July 21 bombings on London's transit system. Britain is seeking his extradition.
British anti-terrorism officers were dispatched to Rome as part of the investigation into the failed July 21 attacks, the Metropolitan Police said yesterday. Two weeks earlier, another series of bombs on London's transit system killed 56 people, including four bombers.
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