British anti-terrorism law wins approval

? Prime Minister Tony Blair won Parliament’s support Friday for a new anti-terrorism law allowing the government to act swiftly against 10 terror suspects — including an Islamic preacher accused of inspiring lead Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta — who have been granted bail.

The House of Lords approved new powers to order house arrest and impose curfews and electronic tagging without trial after the government made concessions to end a bitter parliamentary deadlock just three days before similar legislation expired.

The Prevention of Terrorism Bill later received the formality of royal assent to become law.

Eight suspects were granted bail Friday, a day after two others were granted bail. The new control orders are likely to be used first against those suspects.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he would sign the control orders for the 10 individuals Friday night.

“So we will then have control orders in place for all of them proportionate to the particular issues that they have to deal with and keeping them under control in a way that they can’t threaten our country,” Clarke said.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department named Qatada a terrorist supporter and froze his assets. He railed publicly against corrupt Western governments and spoke of his “respect” for bin Laden.

The eight men granted bail Friday — six of whom have been identified by one letter — spent three years in a high-security prison without charge. The other named suspect was Palestinian Mahmoud Suliman Ahmed Abu Rideh.

Justice Duncan Ouseley had set strict bail conditions for them, including a curfew, restrictions on whom they can meet and limits their access to mobile phones and the Internet.

However, the law used to detain the men and set their bail conditions expires Monday. The government urgently wanted its new powers cleared by Parliament, warning that the men could have walked free without new legislation.

Under the new law, the government must apply to a judge to issue house arrest orders, but in an emergency a minister can immediately order the lesser measures and seek court approval within seven days.

The eight men were held under laws passed after the Sept. 11 attacks allowing the indefinite detention of some foreign terrorist suspects without trial.

In December, Britain’s highest court declared the law illegal and a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.