Al-Arabiya "Death Industry" panellists discuss UK counterterrorism law.

Dubai-based, Saudi private capital-funded pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya TV on 1 August carries a new episode of its weekly "Death Industry" programme on Britain's counterterrorism draft law. Anchorwoman Rima Salihah interviews Amjad Salfiti, chairman of the Arab Human Rights Committee in London, at his London home; British House of Commons member Eric Joyce, at his London office; Abu-Yahya, a British citizen of a Bangladeshi origin, in a London public park; and Michel Abd-al-Masih, British lawyer of Arab origin, legal adviser to the queen, and specialized in defending detainees accused of extremism, on a London street bench. Joyce speaks in English, with a superimposed Arabic translation, translated from Arabic.

Salihah begins by saying: "The British counterterrorism draft law is viewed by Muslim communities as part of an organized anti-Islam campaign, and human rights groups in Britain have rejected it as a coup against civil liberties. Proponents of the draft law consider it a natural reaction to the London bombings and an attempt to protect the country from extremist forces. We travelled to Britain to give a clearer idea of the draft law based on the views of its proponents and opponents."

Asked why the Arab Human Rights Committee rejected the draft law, Salfiti says that "the draft legislation, which is only part of the anti-terror war declared by Britain and a number of US-led countries, has dwarfed civil rights in Britain."

Asked which articles are rejected by the committee, Salfiti says that "the draft law gives the government absolute powers, extends the maximum period of pre-charge detention, and gives special powers to the …