GORDON BROWN is to revive controversial government plans to hold terrorism suspects for 90 days without charge as one of his “early pledges” in advance of becoming prime minister.

In the week of the anniversary of the July 7 attacks on London, the chancellor will announce that he believes increasing the present 28-day limit to 90 days is justified to help safeguard the public.

The proposal sparked a row over civil liberties last year, when Tony Blair failed to force it through parliament after 49 Labour MPs rebelled.

It coincides with a warning by Britain’s most senior Muslim police officer that sections of his community are “in denial” over home-grown terrorism. Tarique Ghaffur, a Metropolitan police assistant commissioner, criticises in today’s Sunday Times some Muslims’ “preoccupation with conspiracy theories” to explain attacks.

Brown’s revival of the 90-day proposal, which he will announce this week, comes as the government faces a battle with the judiciary over its anti-terrorism measures.

The chancellor’s allies say he was angered last week when a High Court judge quashed “control orders” that put six suspects under effective house arrest. The orders are a key element of the government’s anti-terrorism strategy, but Mr Justice Sullivan ruled the suspects’ human rights had been breached.

Brown is now studying the legal implications of a ruling that John Reid, the home secretary, also disagreed with. It overturned nearly half the 14 control orders in force.

Brown, who may succeed Blair next year, has already begun outlining how his premiership would look, with announcements on green issues as well as a commitment to replacing Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent.

A Treasury source said: “Gordon remains convinced there is a case for extending the period for which terrorist suspects can be detained without charge beyond 28 days.”

The chancellor will also promise an extra £40m this week for the security and intelligence services. Sources said the money would be used for enhancing electronic and computer surveillance.

In today’s Sunday Times, Ghaffur writes that since September 11, 2001, and last year’s attacks: “To a degree, Islam has become demonised.”

One result, he warns, is “very real anger amongst young Muslims”. Some, he writes, have become vulnerable to the “simplistic anti-western messages of extremist organisations”. He continues: “For some, there is an overriding preoccupation with conspiracy theories around the threat of terrorism.”

He argues that if efforts to increase public goodwill to Muslims are to succeed, Muslims “need to be aware that they must firstly overcome the dangerous and prohibitive state of denial”.

Last week in Beeston, Leeds, which was home to three of the London bombers, relatives and friends of the perpetrators — as well as some prominent residents — were denying they were responsible for the attacks, which killed 52 people in addition to the bombers.

Imran Hussain, 25, brother of Hasib Hussain, one of the bombers, said police had not shown his family convincing evidence of his sibling’s guilt. Asked if he believed the government had covered up the true cause of the explosions, he said: “They’ve done it before, so why can’t they do it again?”

A former teacher and friend of Germaine Lindsay, another of the bombers, said the widely published photograph of the four entering Luton rail station on their way to bomb London was a fabrication.

“It’s clear the image has been doctored,” said the man, who runs a cafe in Leeds. Others went further. Mohammed Butt, 57, a trustee of the local Stratford Street mosque, said: “I am 100% convinced they did not do it. It’s all lies. I think the government is behind it all.”

A controversial Muslim cleric accused of making virulently anti-semitic remarks and advocating violence — which he denies — has been invited to speak this week at an Islamic conference, to be opened by Ken Livingstone, mayor of London.

Sheikh Riyadh ul-Haq, an imam from Leicester refused entry into Canada this weekend because of his allegedly inflammatory sermons, will lecture at the IslamExpo conference, which has received £200,000 from Livingstone’s London Development Agency.

Additional reporting: Dipesh Gadher

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