UK: Three years too late for internees
Today, a panel of nine Law Lords ruled that the legislation, adopted in the United Kingdom (UK) in the aftermath of the
attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, was unlawful. A number of people have been detained for nearly three years
under this legislation. The law lords ruled that their human rights had been breached.
"This ruling comes three years too late," Amnesty International said in its immediate reaction to the judgment of the
law lords.
"Nothing can remedy the fact that people have been detained without charge or trial, principally on the basis of secret
evidence, for nearly three years," the organization added.
Background
Part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 empowers the Home Secretary to certify -- and subsequently
indefinitely detain without charge or trial -- non-deportable foreign nationals as "suspected international terrorists"
and a "national security risk". As of today, 11 people continue to be held under this legislation, most of them have
been in detention for nearly three years. They have been held under severely restrictive regimes in high security
prisons and in a high security psychiatric hospital. Concern about their mental and physical health was heightened by
the findings of a report -- published on 13 October 2004 -- prepared by 11 Consultant Psychiatrists and one Consultant
Clinical Psychologist about the serious damage to the health of eight of the detainees. Amnesty International has
repeatedly called for the government to withdraw this legislation, as it is discriminatory and inconsistent with
international human rights law and standards.
Today's judgment was the outcome of a case in which the people detained challenged the legality of the legislation on
the basis that it violated their human rights. Amnesty International intervened in the proceedings which have resulted
in this judgment by making a written submission to the Law Lords asking them to find that indefinite detention under
this legislation was of a criminal nature for all intents and purposes. That it, as such, violates the most fundamental
fair trial rights guaranteed in international standards, including treaty provisions by which the UK is bound. In
addition, the organization invited the Law Lords to find that the admissibility of, and reliance on, evidence obtained
as a result of torture or other ill-treatment (of a third party) in proceedings under this legislation was a violation
of the UK's obligations under international law.
Further information on human rights in the UK: