Halsbury's Law Exhange blogger Simon Hetherington on the inidividual liberty of terrorism suspects
"The see-saw on which are perched, at opposite ends, the interests of security and those of individual liberty has tilted a little in favour of the former.
There are problems, it appears, concerning the emergency extension of custody limits of suspects in terrorism investigations. The scenario is that periods might be increased from 14 days to up to 28, (though not, so far at least, to the controversial figure of 42).
A couple of months ago the Home Secretary warned Parliament that it would have to consider the problem of how to extend those limits in cases of urgent need, without discussing the cases themselves. Now, in addition, there is the concern that the time at which the granting of such an extension is necessary might fall when Parliament is not sitting.
These are two serious problems. Or at least they are serious problems once the premise beneath them is accepted, that the investigation of terrorist offences takes precedence over the individual rights of suspects. At a basic level, that is what
