Breaking…

After a week of turmoil in Parliament, Tony Blair’s Prevention of Terrorism Act has been approved–with significant concessions:

Blair said that if opponents backed the bill he would give parliament a chance to amend it after the next general election, widely expected in May, if his government was still in power. Opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard said that met his demands, all but ending a logjam that had threatened to spill into the weekend and test Blair’s mettle.

More details on what the law does and its immediate effect on 8 al Qaeda suspects recently granted bail from AP:

Prime Minister Tony Blair won the support of Parliament Friday for a new anti-terrorism law that will allow Britain to act swiftly against eight foreign terror suspects who had been granted bail.

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

The Prevention of Terrorism Bill, which also allows the government to ban terror suspects from meeting certain people or traveling and to restrict their access to the Internet or telephone later received the formality of royal assent to become law.

The new control orders are likely to be used first against the eight foreign nationals, including radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada who has alleged links to al-Qaida. The men have spent three years in a high security prison without charge but were granted bail at a special commission in London Friday.

The Guardian’s Q&A (caveat emptor) on the act is here.

The Netherlands passed a terrorist detention law along similar lines last week.

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Related stateside:

What to do about Jose Padilla

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