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Terror suspects detained in Britain lose court bid for freedom
Britain's government received a welcome boost over its controversial policy of detaining foreign terrorism suspects without trial after a court rejected an attempt by 10 detainees to win freedom. The High Court in London turned down a challenge by lawyers acting for the 10 men against a ruling that Home Secretary David Blunkett had "sound material" to back up his decision they were a risk to national security, and thus should be detained. That ruling was made by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, or SIAC, a secretive legal tribunal which decides on the status of foreign nationals facing detention or deportation on the grounds of national security. The men's lawyers had argued it was wrong to hold them under evidence which might have been gathered using torture or ill-treatment at US detention centres such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. However in a lengthy written ruling, a trio of judges turned down the appeal against the SIAC decision. A lawyer for the men, leading human rights activist Gareth Peirce, described the judgment as "terrifying". "It shows that we have completely lost our way in this country legally and morally," she said. "We have international treaty obligations which prevent the use of evidence obtained by torture in any proceedings." The 10, most of whom have been detained for more than two and a half years, have been held under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, passed soon after the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001. The law allows foreigners to be jailed indefinitely without charge or trial if the home secretary rules they are suspected of involvement in international terrorism, and they opt not to leave the country. Posted by: Fred 2004-08-15 |
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