TPIMs – new and previously unpublished court papers reveal Government view on threat posed from soon-to-be-released TPIM suspects - Cooper
Ahead of Labour calling David Cameron and Theresa May to the House of Commons (Tuesday) to come clean on those terror suspects they have already or are about to release from any restrictions, attached are previously unpublished court judgements on the potential danger posed by the individuals concerned.   TPIMs have a two-year time limit and in at least five cases these TPIM restriction run out by January 26 2014. Labour has called an Opposition Day debate on Tuesday 21 January 2014 to demand answers from the Home Secretary and Prime Minister on what risk assessments have been undertaken and what action is being taken to secure national security given this mass release from any security regime.   The Independent Reviewer of Terrorist Legislation has said that this situation is worrying.   Labour has released previously unpublished court papers (attached) showing how dangerous some of these suspects are considered by the courts, security services and the Government.   The papers show that suspects free from TPIMs this month were judged in their latest cases as continuing to pose a threat to the United Kingdom by the Home Secretary.   However due to the weak regime and time limited nature of TPIMs brought in by this Home Secretary there is no option but to let the TPIMs lapse.   Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said:   “Theresa May can’t hide away on this. Her decision to weaken terror controls means terror suspects described by the courts as highly dangerous only a year ago will now face no restrictions on London streets.   "Does she believe these men are no longer dangerous? Or is she increasing the security risk? We need to know.   "Theresa May deliberately changed the rules so that restrictions have to be stopped this month no matter how great she and the courts believe the risk might be. The independent reviewer of terror powers has confirmed that there are real problems with this arbitrary two year time limit.   "They have already lost two terror suspects - who just ran off in cabs - as a result of their decisions to weaken the powers.   "The Home Secretary has said nothing at all about what she is doing about these men now TPIMs are ending.   "She cannot simply ignore the public’s concern and must provide urgent answers.   "Does she believe these men whose restrictions she is lifting now are no longer dangerous? Does she think it is now safe to let them go without restrictions? Can she assure us they pose no threat to London? We hope they have changed their views and behaviour, but the Home Secretary needs to tell us what security experts think.   "We need an urgent independent threat assessment of each TPIM terror suspect and the Home Secretary and Prime Minister need to assure the country that this policy will not increase the risk to the public. If they cannot do so, they need to tell Parliament what action they propose to take so that Theresa May’s policies don’t put the public at risk.”