A. AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
45
effective the special advocates were able to be. The correct approach to and the
weight to be given to any particular factor would depend upon the particular
circumstances. (7) There were no rigid principles. What was fair was essentially a
matter for the judge, with whose decision the Court of Appeal would very rarely
interfere.”
III. DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COMMENT ON PART 4 OF
THE 2001 ACT
A. The Newton Committee
98. Part 4 of the 2001 Act provided for the creation of a Committee of
Privy Counsellors to review its operation. The Committee, under the
chairmanship of Lord Newton, reported in December 2003. Having
recorded the Home Office’s argument that the threat from al-Qaeda
terrorism was predominantly from foreigners, the Newton Committee’s
report drew attention to:
“... accumulating evidence that this is not now the case. The British suicide bombers
who attacked Tel Aviv in May 2003, Richard Reid (‘the Shoe Bomber’), and recent
arrests suggest that the threat from UK citizens is real. Almost 30% of Terrorism Act
2000 suspects in the past year have been British. We have been told that, of the people
of interest to the authorities because of their suspected involvement in international
terrorism, nearly half are British nationals.”
Given this evidence, the Newton Committee observed that not only were
there arguments of principle against having discriminatory provisions, but
there were also compelling arguments of limited efficacy in addressing the
terrorist threat. The Newton Committee therefore called for new legislation
to be introduced as a matter of urgency which would deal with the terrorist
threat without discrimination on grounds of nationality and which would not
require a derogation from Article 5 of the Convention.
99. In February 2004 the Government published their response to the
Newton Committee’s report. It continued to accept that the terrorist threat
“came predominantly, but not exclusively, from foreign nationals” and
made the following observation about the Newton Committee’s suggestion
that counter-terrorist measures should apply to all persons within the
jurisdiction regardless of nationality:
“While it would be possible to seek other powers to detain British citizens who may
be involved in international terrorism it would be a very grave step. The Government
believes that such draconian powers would be difficult to justify. Experience has
demonstrated the dangers of such an approach and the damage it can do to community
cohesion and thus to support from all parts of the public that is so essential to
countering the terrorist threat.”