Resentment lingers over Britain's invocation last year of anti-terrorism laws to freeze Icelandic assets.

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Tony Blair spoke last year about changing the "rules of the game" as his government drew up plans for new anti-terrorism laws.

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By any standard, the record of the French intelligence services has been impressive to date, aided by some of Europe's toughest anti-terrorism laws.

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And he answered questions on PFI hospital schemes, drug treatment places for those leaving prison and the effect of anti-terrorism laws on Muslim communities.

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Mr Bush could have asked Congress to pass new anti-terrorism laws.

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At the same time, we have benefitted from laws that have strengthened our crime-fighting abilities, including the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, Anti-Terrorism laws, the Economic Espionage Act, and the Health Care Fraud Statute.

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The established procedure is to pass special anti-terrorism laws, altering trial rules somewhat to handle terrorist cases, but not abandoning established court systems, and trying to retain the basic rights of those accused as far as possible.

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The Patriot Act has also been successful in updating anti-terrorism and criminal laws to bring law enforcement up to date with technology.

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The Sharia court argued that Ms Mai's case should have been tried under Hudood laws and not anti-terrorism legislation.

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