The British government is considering setting up special 'secret' anti-terror courts to determine how long suspects should be detained without charge, a media report said on Tuesday.
Ministers are considering to make a French-style "security-cleared judge" responsible for assembling a pre-trial case against terrorist suspects, with in-camera access to sensitive intelligence evidence, including currently inadmissible phone-tap evidence, according to sources at Britain's Home Office sources.
The plan under consideration could also involve the use of security-vetted "special advocates" as legal representatives of those detained, The Guardian reported. But they would not be able to disclose the nature of the evidence under which their clients were held before being charged, it said.
Prime Minister Tony Blair had last week said that part of the new anti-terror package would include "a new court procedure which would allow a pre-trial process". He said it would provide a way of meeting requests by the police and security services that detention before charge should be extended from the current 14 days upto three months.
The decision to adopt secret anti-terrorist courts will mark a huge departure from England's centuries' old "adversarial" system of justice, the report said.
In France, where an inquisitorial system is used, an examining magistrate hears evidence from witnesses and suspects, orders searches and authorises warrants, before deciding if there is a valid case, it added.
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