No, not Zimbabwe - it's here in the UK.
Quote from the BBC NEWS website:
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Mr Green was arrested by members of its counter-terrorism command. It said the investigation was not terrorism related but did fall within the counter-terror unit's remit.
This is the story of Opposition Spokesman Damian Green MP, who was arrested under Counter-Terrorism legislation, for talking about ths shortcomings of HM Government, with relation to the management of immigration controls and security checking procedures. Things for which the Government really should be held accountable.
As a result, he was arrested and his home and offices were searched by the Counter Terrorism Unit.
Good grief: what is going on? I thought that we were supposed to be persuading the Zimbabwe governement of the error of their ways, not taking lessons from them.
3 comments:
I found this quote from an ex police officer that explains it a bit:
"Damian Green was arrested for ‘conspiracy to aid and abet malpractice in a public office’ Nothing to do with terrorism. Conspiracy to commit any arrestable offence is an offence at Common Law. It has a useful power of arrest for the police and was used extensively during my time 1956 - 1987 particularly in relation to company fraud when a number of people are involved. The specific offence of malpractice in public office was I believe introduced by the last Conservative administration. The Antiterrorist Squad is what we used to call Special Branch and this type of job would have come within their remit so officers from this outfit would have been involved. No antiterrorist law would have been used to arrest and search in this matter. People are just confusing the name of the police department with the law. Also theft of docments is an offence exactly the same as theft of anything else. A person receiving the stolen documents is also likely to have committed an offence."
The truth is unless we actually know what transpired we don't know if it was justified or not. I find it slightly disturbing but I'd find the idea that politicians should be above the law even more disturbing.
By long-standing arrangement, MPs are not arrested and questioned at length, have their offices searched without
a] the knowledge of the Home Secretary and / or Prime Minister
b] the permission of the Speaker
c] first being interviewed under caution.
Without these "courtesies", previous arrestees would have included: Justice Secretary Jack Straw; Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and, erm, former Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
It's an outrage against democracy. The Met overstepped the mark. The Speaker should resign. Simple as.
Having said that, I think Tories should be arrested just for being Tories, so stick that in your civil liberties pipe and smoke it (outside, if you please).
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