Government plans to extend pre-charge detention for terror suspects to 42 days are "unnecessary, disproportionate and counter-productive" and should be rejected in the House of Lords next week, Human Rights Watch said in a report. The international human rights group said that the 28-day detention period introduced by the former prime minister Tony Blair is already "excessive" and violates Britain's obligations under European and global conventions. And the report warned that other features of the Counter-Terrorism Bill - such as post-charge questioning and secret inquests - are incompatible with the UK's duties under international human rights law. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, needed the support of Democratic Unionist MPs to get the bill through the Commons and faces further difficulties in the Lords, where it has its...
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