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Britain introduced body scanners at Heathrow airport, a measure
rushed in after a failed attempt by a Muslim extremist to bomb a
US-bound passenger plane from Amsterdam.
The scanners, which see through clothes to produce an image of the
body, have caused unease among human rights campaigners who fear an
invasion of passengers' privacy as well as the disproportionate
scrutiny of Muslim travellers by authorities.
"Given the current security threat level, the government believes
it essential to start introducing scanners immediately," said
Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis.
Britain raised its terrorism threat level to severe, the
second-highest level, on January 22, days before London was due to
host two international conferences on Yemen and Afghanistan.
The conferences took place last week without any security
incident.
The British government has been particularly concerned about the
botched attempt by suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian
national, to blow up a plane bound for Detroit on December 25
because he was a student in London between 2005 and 2008.
Abdulmutallab boarded the US flight at Amsterdam's Schiphol
airport, which already has 15 body scanners and plans to install
more.
France and Italy have also signalled they will start using the
devices at their airports.
In a statement, Adonis said airports at Heathrow and at Manchester,
northern England, was the first required to use the scanners and
others would follow. Scanners will be introduced at Birmingham
airport (in central England) this month.
"In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline
passengers will be selected for scanning. If a passenger is
selected for scanning, and declines, they will not be permitted to
fly," he said.
Who should be scanned?
An interim code of practice for security staff stipulated that
passengers should not be selected for scanning on the basis of
gender, age, race or ethnic origin, Adonis said.
He said the government would launch a public consultation on rules
for the use of scanners, with a view to producing a final code of
practice.
The merits and uses of body scanners have been vigorously debated
in Europe since the failed Christmas Day bombing.
The European Union's new transport chief, Siim Kallas, said last
month member states should not use the devices until the bloc had
agreed on rules to protect privacy and health.
But the bloc's anti-terrorism chief, Gilles de Kerchove, said days
earlier that all EU countries should introduce them.
Meanwhile Britain's terrorism watchdog supported on Monday the
continued imposition of home curfews and limits on human contact
for suspected militants - which human rights groups have attacked
on the ground that they violate basic freedoms.
Under the 'control orders', the authorities can limit the contacts
of, and impose a curfew for up to 16 hours a day on, suspected
militants who cannot be charged with a crime because there is
little evidence or evidence that cannot be made public.
"There is no better means of dealing with the serious and
continuing risk posed by some individuals," said Lord Carlile, the
independent reviewer of British security laws, though he said the
system did need some reform.
Britain's top court last year dealt the system a blow when it ruled
the government had to disclose secret evidence used against
individuals and that failure to do so breached human rights.
