Blair accuses courts of putting rights of terrorist suspects first

Tony Blair has hit out at judges and opposition MPs for putting the human rights of terrorist suspects above the protection of citizens.

He spoke out as the Government prepares to set out fresh proposals for antiterrorist legislation after three men on control orders went on the run.

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Mr Blair insisted their disappearance was not the fault of the Home Office or the security services, but the courts, which had blocked tougher action against Islamists.

He said: "We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first. I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong."

He added: "Over the past five or six years we have decided as a country that except in the most limited of ways, the threat to our public safety does not justify changing radically the legal basis on which we confront this extremism.

"Their right to traditional civil liberties comes first. I believe this is a dangerous misjudgement."

His comments echoed John Reid, the Home Secretary, who complained his arm was tied when it came to fighting terrorism. He said measures, such as the detention of foreign suspects or deporting them, had been thwarted by the courts or attacked in Parliament.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Blair said criticisms over the suspects who absconded were "absurd" since powers to detain them had been thrown out.

"So when there is an outcry about the three absconding, we should remember that over the past few years, and even after July 7, attempts to introduce stronger powers have been knocked back in Parliament and in the courts."