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=> Hail Britania

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Thursday, December 16 2004, 16:36:10 (CET)
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...good sense in Britain. Patriot Act over there found to be illegal...one chief justice says these Patriot Acts are a bigger threat to England than any terrorists. Hear Hear! They must have learned the lesson of Germany and its Nazi days. Looking back on it...as at Nuremberg, everyone recognized that the full Nazi horror only started for real when the laws in Germany were changed to "protect" the German people. It's the most brilliant end-run there is...

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - Britain's highest court dealt a huge blow to the government's anti-terrorism policy Thursday by ruling that it cannot detain foreign suspects indefinitely without trial.

AP Photo

Judges in the House of Lords ruled 8-1 in favor of a group of foreign men jailed without charge for up to three years. Their lawyers say their detention is a gross violation of human rights.

One judge described the law allowing them to be held as a greater threat to the nation than terrorism.

The British government had argued that the detention without trial of some terrorist suspects was a tough but necessary measure to protect a free society from the threat of devastating attacks.

While the judges cannot directly strike down the law, their ruling that it is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights puts the onus on the government to resolve that conflict by repealing or amending the disputed provision.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the detainees would remain imprisoned and the law would stay in force while legislators considered what to do next.

"It is ultimately for Parliament to decide whether and how we should amend the law," he said.

The nine law lords — members of the House of Lords who constitute Britain's highest court of appeal — voted against the measures brought in after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, under which foreign terrorist suspects may be detained indefinitely without charge or trial if they cannot safely be removed to another country.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill presented the majority opinion.

"The measures unjustifiably discriminate against foreign nationals on the grounds of their nationality or immigration status and are not strictly required since they provide for the detention of some but not all of those who present the same risk," he said.

He was referring to the distinction the law makes between British suspects and foreigners. The law applies only to terrorism suspects who are not British citizens and whose lives would be endangered if they were deported.

Seventeen people have been detained under the disputed provision of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act. Eleven remain in custody and six have been freed, deported or detained under other powers.

The government has not told the detainees why they were arrested, or on what evidence.

The law, which required the government to opt out of sections of the European Convention on Human Rights, allows police to arrest and hold foreign nationals if there are "reasonable grounds to suspect" links to terrorist groups. That is a far lower requirement than the standard of proof that would be required to convict them of a crime.

Lord Hoffmann, joining Bingham's decision, said the case was one of the most important to come before the court in recent years.

"It calls into question the very existence of an ancient liberty of which this country has until now been very proud: freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention," he wrote.

"The real threat to the life of the nation ... comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these," he argued. "That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve. It is for Parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a victory."

The suspects are not allowed to hear all the evidence against them, nor can their lawyers access all the top secret documents and testimonies in the case. But the attorney general has appointed special advocates who have been checked by the MI5 security agency, to act on their behalf.

Bingham said he would quash the opt-out order and declare section 23 of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act incompatible with the European Convention.

One of the detainees, identified only as "A," welcomed the ruling.

"I hope now that the government will act upon this decision, scrap this illegal 'law' and release me and the other internees," he said in a statement released by Gareth Peirce, one of the lawyers for the suspects.

Human rights campaigners also welcomed the verdict.

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