Anti-terror powers ‘withering on vine’

Controversial anti-terrorism powers may be “withering on the vine” and need to be reviewed, a group of MPs and peers has warned.

Terrorism prevention and investigation measures (Tpims) should be considered within a broader appraisal of counter-terrorism powers by the new Government in 2015, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said.

Ministers have also been criticised by the committee for failing to provide enough information on an internal review of Tpims launched after two subjects disappeared.

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Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed was last seen fleeing a London mosque in a burka in November last year, while fellow Tpim subject Ibrahim Magag vanished in a black cab on Boxing Day 2012. Both are still missing.

The committee’s report comes as Labour applies pressure on the Government to explain what measures have been taken to manage the risk posed by suspects whose Tpims are set to expire towards the end of this month.

Committee chair Dr Hywel Francis MP said: “We are not clear that these measures continue to be as practically useful as the Government claimed they would be when the Act was passed in 2011.

“There is no evidence that they serve any investigative function and even as preventive measures they seem to be going out of favour with the agencies.”

The group of MPs and peers has rejected calls by Labour to reintroduce the power to relocate terrorism suspects, which were available under the previous control order regime.

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