Britain publishes new counter terrorism bill

LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain published the Counter Terrorism Bill 2008 on Thursday, introducing tough new measures to protect the public from terrorist threats.

The bill proposes that police hold terrorism suspects for up to42 days before they are charged, extending the current limit of 28days, "if exceptional circumstances require it."

According to the Home Office, the bill is intended to help the government deliver on its priority to secure a Britain that is strong in security and robust in its resilience.

The Counter Terrorism Bill 2008 also calls for "full use of DNA in terrorism investigations" and for post-charge questioning of terror suspects.

Moreover, sentences for terrorism-motivated general offenses should be enhanced along with the monitoring arrangements for convicted terrorists to prevent them from foreign travel where necessary.

"The government's first priority is to protect our citizens. We are facing an unprecedented threat from terrorism in this country and are determined to take whatever action is necessary to protect the public from future attacks," said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Smith noted that the bill contains a broad range of measures to ensure police and others have the tools they need to deal with the terrorist threat. Countering terrorism and violent extremism is one of the most important and urgent priorities for the police service.

Britain has allocated 45 million pounds (some 90 million U.S. dollars) for over 70 local authorities over the next three years to fund projects to tackle violent extremism.

"Today's bill is one part of a much wider package of work we are doing on countering terrorism more generally and building on our cross-government strategy to prevent people becoming terrorists in the first place by challenging extremist ideology and by supporting communities in rooting out its influence," Smith added.