Police powers discriminate against Muslims: Lib Dem leader
Regional-UK, Local, 3/26/2007

UK Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has criticized the British police for abusing emergency stop-and-search powers against Muslims.

"Indiscriminate stop and search is alienating minority groups who often feel unjustly targeted," Campbell told Muslim community leaders at a mosque in Birmingham on Friday.

"Anti-terrorism powers are meant to be exceptional powers, used occasionally and only when circumstances demand it," he said after revealing over 166,894 people have been stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act 2000, despite there being only 40 convictions.

The leader of Britain's third largest party said the fact that so many people have been stopped, and so few arrested, suggests that the powers are being used as "part of standard policing techniques." "We now need an urgent review of the powers to ensure that it is used more sensitively and effectively rather than as part of routine policing which enflames anger amongst community groups," he said.

Home Office figures show that for every person arrested 148 have been stopped and searched and that out of a total of 1,166 suspects arrested under terrorism laws since September 11, less than four per cent have led to convictions.

The figures have also been criticized by Muslim leaders, who said that they confirmed worst fears about the hundreds of highly publicized arrests.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said earlier this month that "far too many arrests are carried out without due regard for the need for evidence." "We need to recognize that these are not just empty statistics but innocent human beings whose lives have been shattered by such heavy-handed and discriminatory policies," chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission Massoud Shadjareh also warned.

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