John le Carré: Britons have been 'stripped' of civil liberties

Britons have been "stripped" of their civil liberties amid an "atmosphere of
panic" over the threat from terrorism, according to the novelist John le
Carré. 

By Nicole Martin and Christopher Hope 
Last Updated: 10:24AM BST 23 Sep 2008

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3053367/John-le-Carre-Britons-have-been-stripped-of-civil-liberties.html
http://tinyurl.com/4e6e47

In a rare public intervention, the spy author criticised ministers for
voting to extend the time limit that terror suspects can be held without
charge to 42 days. 

His comments come only weeks ahead of a key vote in the House of Lords that
could see peers throw out the Government's controversial 42-day proposals.

The writer, who admitted he has a reputation as "an angry old man", said he
was furious that the Government had been allowed to get away with a
sustained attack on civil liberties.

"Partly, I'm angry that there is so little anger around me at what is being
done to our society, supposedly in order to protect it," said the
76-year-old in an interview in Waterstone's magazine. 

"We have been taken to war under false pretences, and stripped of our civil
rights in an atmosphere of panic. Our lawyers don't take to the streets as
they have done in Pakistan. 

"Our MPs allow themselves to be deluded by their own spin doctors, and end
up believing their own propaganda."

He added: "We haul our Foreign Secretary back from a mission to the Middle
East so he can vote for 42 days' detention. 

"People call me an angry old man. Screw them. You don't have to be old to be
angry about that. We've sacrificed our sovereignty to a so-called 'special
relationship' which has nothing special about it except to ourselves."

The writer has been an outspoken critic of Labour's erosion of civil
liberties. 

He was one of several figures from the arts and academia who wrote to Gordon
Brown in March to protest at the 42-day detention limit.

The open letter, which was also signed by author Iain Banks and fashion
designer Vivienne Westwood, warned that "relations could suffer if the
Muslim community appears to be ... targeted for prolonged pre-charge
detention". 

Campaigners and opposition MPs are suggesting that the terror vote in the
House of Lords on October 13 will be tight. 

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the civil rights group Liberty, said: "Mr
le Carré is not a lone voice.

"Forty-two days has become totemic of the biggest assault on all our hard
won rights and freedoms. It is a shame that it takes a writer of fiction to
give the Government a reality check."

Le Carré said his book, A Most Wanted Man, explores the struggle to find a
balance between individual rights and state security and "how far Germany
will go in imitating our mistakes."

The novel, published today, tells the story of a half-Chechen, half-Russian
Muslim refugee who is living in Hamburg and being tracked by a series of
special agents, who suspect that he may be plotting a terrorist attack.


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