How long can suspected terrorists be detained

However, this was amended by section Criminal Justice Act to 14 days. Following the 7 July bombings in London the government announced proposals to extend this to 90 days. These were defeated in the House of Commons in late , but an alternative measure was passed section 23 Terrorism Act to extend the maximum to 28 days. In July , the government announced proposals to legislate to extend the maximum period beyond 28 days. See Options for pre-charge detention in terrorist cases, Home Office, 25 July The government argues that terrorism cases require longer periods of pre-charge detention because of the complexity of investigating terrorism cases, the difficulty in obtaining admissible evidence, and the importance of protecting the public from terrorist attacks.

In particular, police frequently refer to the need to arrest terrorist suspects based on tip-offs from intelligence rather than hard evidence:. By contrast, charges can only be laid where there is sufficient admissible evidence to support them. Sinan Tanrikulu and others v Turkey application nos. What are the existing safeguards against prolonged detention in terrorism cases?

As with pre-charge detention under PACE, the longer periods of pre-charge detention under the Terrorism Act can only be authorised by a judge rather than police. In addition, under paragraphs 33 and 34, neither the detained suspect nor his or her lawyers are entitled to see all the evidence that the police and prosecution may put before the judge in support of their application for continued detention.

The police can hold you for up to 24 hours before they have to charge you with a crime or release you. This means your freedom will be restricted in some way, eg they can impose a curfew on you if your offence was committed at night. To help us improve GOV. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Cookies on GOV. UK We use some essential cookies to make this website work. Accept additional cookies Reject additional cookies View cookies.

Hide this message. But there is no substitute for the Constitution or for the criminal process that the federal courts have refined over the last years. Even an indefinite detention scheme with dozens of procedural bells and whistles will not provide the kind of process that the Constitution requires. Congressional approval will not make indefinite detention constitutional.

But pulling Congress into the scheme will not make it constitutional, and it won't make it more acceptable.

Indefinite detention without charge or trial violates due process, with or without a congressional stamp. Indefinite Detention. No Charges? No Trials? No Justice.