How UK Terrorism Law Compares With Rest of World

The government says the proposed 42 days could be needed if the country faced a ´very grave and exceptional terrorist threat´.

If the United States and Germany allow police just two days for initial questioning of terrorism suspects, why is Britain proposing to grant up to six weeks? For civil liberties groups, the disparity is proof that British counter-terrorism law is growing ever more draconian. The government counters that bald comparisons are deeply misleading because of sharp differences between legal systems.
Parliament will vote on Wednesday on a bill to increase from 28 to 42 days the maximum time that police can hold terrorism suspects before having to charge or release them. Defeat in what is expected to be a close vote would severely undermine Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Rights group Liberty says the existing limit of 28 days is already "way out of line with the rest of Europe" and extending it would lead to more innocent people being detained for longer, creating injustice and undermining the "hearts and minds" struggle against Islamist militants.
The government says the proposed 42 days could be needed if the country faced a "very grave and exceptional terrorist threat", for example if police had to conduct complex investigations into multiple simultaneous attacks.
It argues that the threshold of evidence required for police to charge suspects in Britain is higher than in some overseas jurisdictions, where they need only to establish firm grounds for suspicion before handing cases to judges or prosecutors whose investigations may last for months or even years.
Following is a summary of detention and charging arrangements for terrorism cases in Britain and some other Western countries.
BRITAIN - Police need a warrant from a judge to keep a suspect in custody after the first 48 hours, and these warrants are usually updated weekly up to a current maximum of 28 days. At that point police must charge or release the suspect.
UNITED STATES - The maximum pre-charge detention period for criminal, including terrorist, suspects is 48 hours. Asked how the U.S. manages with so low a limit, the head of the FBI pointed recently to two key differences with the British legal system. He cited the use of plea bargaining in the United States and the fact that U.S. prosecutors -- unlike their British counterparts -- can make use in court of intelligence material obtained from tapping suspects' phones.
GERMANY - A person can be held in provisional police detention for up to 48 hours, after which a warrant from a judge is required to keep the suspect in investigative custody. At this point prosecutors publicly state the grounds for suspicion. It may, however, take many months for them to bring charges. For example, three men arrested on Sept. 4 last year on "urgent suspicion" of planning terrorist attacks on U.S. installations in Germany have not yet been formally charged.
FRANCE - A terrorism suspect can normally be held for up to four days for police questioning, increasing to six if there is proof an attack was being prepared. If suspicion is confirmed, the case is then transferred to an investigating judge. While the judge's investigation proceeds, a suspect may remain in detention for years, but has the right to appeal against it.