Legal defeat for UK Government re "Britain's Guantanamo Bay"

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:44:57 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Subject: Legal defeat for UK Government re "Britain's Guantanamo Bay"
X-Sender: nbr () popin newcastle ac uk
To: dave () farber net

Hi Dave:

For IP if you wish.

Here's an article from the (UK) Guardian newspaper about yesterday's appeal 
court judgment against the UK Government's attempt to retain a suspected 
terrorist in custody without "access to an independent tribunal or court 
which can adjudicate upon the question of whether the detention is lawful 
or not".

Cheers

Brian Randell

==========

Defeat for Blunkett as judges free detainee

Audrey Gillan
Friday March 19, 2004
The Guardian

A Libyan man held for almost 16 months without charge or trial was released 
from Belmarsh high security prison last night after three appeal court 
judges ruled that the home secretary had acted "inappropriately" and 
"unlawfully" in certifying him as an international terrorist.

In a ruling that caused embarrassment for David Blunkett, Britain's most 
senior judge, Lord Woolf, and two justices, denied the home secretary leave 
to appeal.

The lord chief justice upheld a judgment last week by the Special 
Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), which said the 37-year-old man - 
known as M for legal reasons - had been detained on evidence that was 
"wholly unreliable and should not have been used to justify detention".

The decision marks a milestone for civil liberties campaigners who have 
protested against the controversial Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 
2001 since it was rushed through parliament after the September 11 attacks.

The legislation allows the home secretary to detain foreign nationals 
without charge or trial if he has a reasonable suspicion that they may be 
involved in international terrorism, and he does not have to prove his case 
in a court of law. Lawyers and activists have complained that the law 
allows Britain to have its own version of Guantánamo Bay.

Lord Woolf's ruling also marks another round in the tussle between the 
government and judiciary. Two weeks ago he made criticisms of growing 
government encroachment on judicial independence, warning that judges may 
need a written constitution to protect themselves from further political 
interference. He attacked government plans both for a supreme court and the 
ousting of the courts from the review of asylum and immigration decisions.
...
Lord Woolf refused to grant the appeal and ordered that the home secretary 
pay M's costs.

He said in his ruling: "While the need for society to protect itself 
against acts of terrorism today is self-evident, it remains of the greatest 
importance that, in a society which upholds the rule of law, if a person is 
detained as M was detained, that individual should have access to an 
independent tribunal or court which can adjudicate upon the question of 
whether the detention is lawful or not. If it is not lawful, then he has to 
be released."
...

Full story at:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1173178,00.html

Other coverage of this story in the paper is at:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/story/0,1320,1173222,00.html (Judge 
of principle shows he's his father's son)

and

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1173242,00.html 
(Admirable judgment judged)

--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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