Fighting terror

To The Times

Your article reports that the practice of preventively detaining terrorism suspects has been effective in thwarting attacks in Spain between 2004 and last week’s horrific events.

In fact, terrorism suspects in Spain can be detained without charge only for five days (as opposed to 14 days in the UK). The detention to which your report is referring is postcharge but pre-trial. This is one of the hallmarks of the civil law inquisitorial system of criminal justice. In Spain the maximum duration for pre-trial detention of terrorism suspects is two years.

Perhaps it is more pertinent to note the number of police recruited in Spain to track returning jihadists. More than 3,000 officers are employed to monitor 160 possible returning jihadists and (according to El País) at least 1,000 persons on the radar, the tapping of some 500 telephones, as well as 259 active investigations.

In the UK, out of 23,000 persons of interest, 3,000 persons are the object of 500 live surveillance operations. Unfortunately, even with unlimited resources, not every attack can be thwarted, but Spain’s record for the past 13 years should add to the evidence in support of allocating more resources to the UK’S security services. Dr Diane Webber, visiting fellow, Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law