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Court blow for government over terrorist asset-freezing

24/04/2008

The government has been told the way in which it freezes the UK assets of terror suspects is "flawed" by the high court.

Mr Justice Collins said the Treasury had "bypassed" parliament by using orders in council deriving from the United Nations security council to freeze the assets of five men.

He ruled that men, referred to as A, K, M, Q and G, could challenge the orders.

None of the five individuals have been charged with any offence but are suspected of "facilitating acts of terrorism".

The Treasury said it was "disappointed" at Mr Justice Collins' ruling that its asset-freezing regime was not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

A spokesman said it had never been the intention to bypass MPs.

"We have been granted permission to lodge an appeal and we will be doing so," he explained.

Despite the ruling the five terror suspects' assets will remain frozen after the government obtained an interim agreement.

"We are fully committed to defending and maintaining our asset-freezing regime, which makes an important contribution to our national security by helping to prevent funds being used for terrorist purposes," the Treasury spokesman added.

According to government statistics 482 people suspected of terror offences have their assets frozen worldwide.

Of this total, 59 have assets in the UK.