UK treatment of terror suspects 'inhuman'

[Guest guest]

" Lori Price " <lrprice

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:59:38 -0700 (PDT)

Subject:

 

 

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

 

UK treatment of terror suspects 'inhuman' -- Government waits 11

months before publishing scathing condemnation by European torture

watchdog on imprisonment without trial --Britain's detention without

trial of foreign terror suspects subjected some of them to " inhuman

and degrading treatment " , the European watchdog on torture said in a

hard-hitting report yesterday.

 

 

 

11 June 2005

 

All links to articles as summarized are available here:

 

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

 

 

UK treatment of terror suspects 'inhuman'

 

Government waits 11 months before publishing scathing condemnation by

European torture watchdog on imprisonment without trial

 

Clare Dyer, legal editor

Friday June 10, 2005

The Guardian

 

Britain's detention without trial of foreign terror suspects subjected

some of them to " inhuman and degrading treatment " , the European

watchdog on torture said in a hard-hitting report yesterday.

 

The Council of Europe's committee for the prevention of torture (CPT),

which visited the detainees in February 2002 and March 2004, said

detention without trial caused mental disorders in most of the detainees.

 

The conditions under which some detainees were held " could be

considered as amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment " .

 

Foreigners in Britain suspected of involvement in international

terrorism were held at Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons and Broadmoor

high-security hospital under legislation passed in 2001.

 

Last March they were freed from custody and put under control orders

restricting their liberty after the law lords ruled that their

detention breached human rights laws.

 

The CPT report is the second within two days from institutions of the

Council of Europe to condemn Britain for human rights failings.

 

Its findings are even more strongly worded than a scathing report on

Wednesday from the European commissioner for human rights, Alvaro

Gil-Robles, which criticised the UK's human rights record on

terrorism, asylum and anti-social behaviour and said that control

orders which impose conditions of house arrest on terror suspects

" flout the right to the presumption of innocence " .

 

The government received the CPT report in July 2004, but waited nearly

a year - until after the law lords had heard the detainees' challenge

to the lawfulness of their detention, new legislation was pushed

through parliament and last month's general election - before agreeing

to its publication.

 

Britain was forced to amend the law after the law lords ruled last

December that the powers of indefinite detention without trial for

foreign terror suspects but not UK nationals breached the European

convention on human rights.

 

The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 was passed after a bitter

parliamentary battle, and last March the detainees were put under

control orders which allow them to live at home, subject to stringent

restrictions on their liberty.

 

Gareth Peirce, a solicitor for several terror suspects, and Shami

Chakrabarti, director of the human rights organisation Liberty, said

the government's delay in publishing the CPT report had deprived the

law lords and parliamentarians of important information which could

have affected their decisions.

 

" From the time of the House of Lords judgment, they kept all the

detainees in custody, knowing it had been condemned as inhuman and

degrading treatment, until the last-ditch stand in March, and deprived

parliamentarians of the information when they were debating the

legislation, " said Ms Peirce.

 

Ms Shakrabarti said: " Why have we not seen this before now? Parliament

should have seen this when they were debating the control order

legislation, because it highlights the cruelty of punishment without

trial, which is just as relevant for control orders.

 

" The government had this report in July 2004. Why didn't it show this

to the law lords last autumn, and why didn't it show this to

parliament when it was debating the control order legislation? "

 

The CPT said the trauma of detention in Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons

and Broadmoor high-security hospital was made worse by its indefinite

nature, the difficulty for detainees in challenging their detention

and their ignorance of the evidence which was being used to certify

them as terrorist suspects.

 

" For those who had been subjected to traumatic experiences or even

torture in the past, it had clearly reawakened the experience and even

led to the serious recurrence of former disorders, " said the report.

 

Amnesty International's UK director, Kate Allen, said: " Once again,

the UK's anti-terror measures are condemned by a leading international

human rights body.

 

" How many times must the government be told that its anti-terror

regime is plain wrong?

 

" Surely the government must now listen to these voices of reason. It a

shameful state of affairs when the UK stands condemned for inhuman and

degrading treatment.

 

" The Prevention of Terrorism Act, currently subjecting former Belmarsh

detainees to house arrest without trial, must be repealed. "

 

The government said the delay in giving its response, which should

have been deliv ered last October, and the go-ahead for the report to

be published " allows the government to update the Council of Europe on

new legislation that it introduced through the Prevention of Terrorism

Act 2005. "

 

A spokesman said: " While we welcome the report, and will give serious

consideration to its findings, we categorically reject the view that

any of the detainees were held in conditions 'amounting to inhuman and

degrading treatment'.

 

" The government maintains that throughout their detention the

detainees received humane and decent treatment, and the appropriate

levels of medical and psychological care. "