By Ian Findlay, industrial reporter

A SCOTS-BASED expert on international terrorism yesterday criticised newly introduced anti-terror legis- lation in the UK and warned that it could lead to public order problems.

Professor Paul Wilkinson of St Andrews University warned delegates attending a conference near the town that he believed the new laws could fall foul of human rights legislation.

“A sensible way out of this would have been to give a longer period of time to the consideration of legislation relating to terrorism,” he commented.

Professor Wilkinson is professor of international relations and chairman of the advisory board of St Andrews’ centre for the study of terrorism and political violence.

He is internationally renowned as an expert in his field.

He was one of the main speakers at the final session of the Scottish Council Development and Industry forum at St Andrews Bay Hotel yesterday afternoon.

His criticism of the new anti-terror legislation—a central pillar of which is the granting of power to the authorities to put suspected terrorists under house arrest without charge—came during a question and answer session.

The professor was asked for his views on the legislation and responded by saying he did not think the measures would enhance the protection of society.

He pointed to possible difficulties he believed could surface for police as they tried to carry out 24-hour enforcement of restriction orders imposed under the legislation.

Details of houses where suspects were the subject of restrictions would be known to supporters and sympathisers, but they could also become known to those who felt the suspects should be hounded out.

This situation could be a source of public order incidents that could “inflame public violence on quite a considerable scale.”

Saying that more time should have been given to considering more appropriate legislation, Professor Wilkinson said strengthening legal procedures to bring cases of terrorism to court ought to have been looked at.

Other EU countries were using their laws to bring suspected terrorists to court.

Professor Wilkinson said that it was “disappointing” that Britain, one of the countries on the Council of Europe which had been behind the European Convention of Human Rights, was now introducing measures that could come into direct conflict with that same convention.

There was also the danger that the new legislation could be seen as giving terrorism a victory.

Terrorists wanted to destroy democracy and if their actions led to the introduction of draconian measures then to some extent they had achieved that.

“I deeply regret that,” said the professor.

Terrorism remained a threat to the US and all democracies associated with the US, including the UK, he said.

However, Professor Wilkinson added that there were signs of a growing reaction against terrorism by al Qaida in Muslim countries.

Some such countries were taking firmer measures because they themselves felt they were under threat from international terrorism.

Maintaining human rights and the rule of law were essential in the battle against terrorism, he said.

The two other main speakers in the final session of the forum yesterday were Sir Menzies Campbell and Lord Robertson of Port Ellen.

Sir Menzies took the opportunity to again state his belief that Britain going to war in Iraq was unjustified.

He said the Government should now produce an exit strategy for Iraq, which augments the democratic process, provides for Iraq’s security and establishes the objective of a phased withdrawal of British troops by the expiry of the United Nations mandate in December of this year.

Sir Menzies told delegates the UK could achieve a better foreign policy.

“We can commit ourselves unreservedly to the rule of law in international affairs,” he said.

Lord Robertson defended the decision by the Government to go into Iraq in 2003, although he conceded that, in retrospect, the intelligence leading to the decision had been “flawed.”

The former NATO Secretary General told delegates that his message was “don’t despair, but don’t relax.”

“I do, however, believe that there are conditions which, if put in place, will ensure that the worst does not happen and will allow us all to be optimistic about the future,” he said.

“The prime condition for a peaceful, prosperous secure future on this planet, and for so many of our younger generation, is the cherishing of, and the recommitment to, the transatlantic alliance …”