POLICE STATE

Dame Stella Rimington, 73, stood down as the director general of the security service in 1996.

Government accused over terrorism

A former head of MI5 has accused the government of exploiting the fear of terrorism to restrict civil liberties.

Dame Stella Rimington, 73, in an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia and published in the Daily Telegraph, she also attacks the approach taken by the US.
"The US has gone too far with Guantanamo and the tortures and has achieved the opposite effect - there are more and more suicide terrorists finding a greater justification."
Dame Stella has previously been critical of the government's policies, including its attempts to extend pre-charge detention for terror suspects to 42 days and the controversial plan to introduce ID cards.

"It would be better that the government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism - that we live in fear and under a police state," she said.