Detainees and control orders
News about detainees and control orders
Saleh Mamon of the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities exposes how justice is trampled underfoot in the British state’s war on terror. Published in Labour Briefing, June 2009.
The secret evidence Early Day Motion has now been tabled and is available for MPs to sign. The EDM calls on the Government to bring about an independent review into the use of secret evidence in UK courts.
Human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce likened the present situation where a person can be held without trial on the basis of secret evidence as 'a national emergency.'
A Parliamentary meeting hosted by Diane Abbott MP
"The Home Secretary appears to have declared war on the government’s own secret terror court, overruling decisions made by judges in the Special Immigration Appeals Court (SIAC)". Read the article by Andy Worthington.
Links and resources
Liberty's Charge or Release campaign
The Coalition against Secret Evidence (CASE) was set up in February 2009, CASE is made up of individuals and organisations working on the issue of the use of secret evidence in the UK courts.
Also see Resources: legislation
Control orders create a ‘domestic prison’ regime
"The real threat to the life of the nation… comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these... 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"
Lord Hoffman, December 2004
In March 2005, despite huge opposition from the public and the House of Lords, the Prevention of Terrorism Act became law. In the name of ‘anti-terror’ measures, the new ‘control orders’ treat people as guilty. They are branded forever as individuals ‘involved in terrorism-related activity’. These measures violate a fundamental principle: innocent until proven guilty and the right to a fair trial. They punish individuals for what they might do, not what they have done. Already such orders have restricted association, telephones and internet use, while imposing electronic tagging. Later these powers may be extended to house arrest. Any breach of such conditions could lead to imprisonment. More people may have new orders imposed at any time.
CAMPACC's submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Control Orders, February 2006. (pdf file)
On Friday 3rd December 2005 Lord Carlile published his report supporting the government’s use of ‘control orders’(under the PTA 2005), as measures supposedly necessary to protect us all from suicide bombings. Thus he justified punishment without trial, even without public evidence against those punished. The same day was the deadline for submissions to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) inquiry into control orders. CAMPACC’s submission attacked the ‘domestic prison’ regime which results from control orders and from bail conditions under the Immigration Act 1971. All these restrictions create a domestic prison for anyone who acts as a host, e.g. the person’s family, friend or volunteer. These measures violate basic human rights, yet the government acts as if no derogation from the ECHR is necessary.
Read the Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Control Orders Report, February 2006 (pdf files)
On 14th February 2006, the JCHR published its report, appending submissions from several opponents of control orders (CAMPACC, SACC, Liberty, Justice, etc.). The solicitors Tyndallwoods quote their client Mr X as follows: ‘I was in prison before on my own, but now my whole family is in prison.’ (p.92). In its main report, Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights: Draft Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (Continuance in force of sections 1 to 9) Order 2006, the JCHR regards control orders as so restrictive of liberty as to require a derogation from the ECHR. Moreover, argues the JCHR, control order proceedings amount to determination of a criminal charge and so warrant the full protections of a criminal trial. The Committee opposes the government’s plan to renew the control order powers without any derogation and without Parliamentary debate (before the powers lapsed on 11th March 2006). Read Scotland Against Criminalising Communities press release drawing out the main points of the report, 14 February 2006
No punishment without trial: repeal the political 'control orders'
CAMPACC's response to the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 and the control orders, March 2005
The end of Internment?
CAMPACC statement in reponse to the Law Lords’ ruling on indefinite detention, 23 December 2004.
Other articles and reports
On 13 July 2010, the Home Secretary announced a “rapid review” by the Home Office of key counter-terrorism powers. The purpose of this submission is to outline Amnesty International’s primary concerns in relation to four of the six powers under consideration; the control orders regime; the use of diplomatic assurances in the context of national security deportations; the 28 day limit for pre-charge detention of people suspected of terrorism-related activity; and the use of stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Read the report here.
Anmesty International Report: UK violates rights of terror suspects with ‘unfair’ control orders
Amnesty International has accused the UK government of developing a "shadow justice system" that imposes severe restrictions on the rights of individuals suspected of terrorism-related activity.
In a new report, Five years on: time to end the control orders regime, the organization repeats its call on the UK government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (PTA) and abandon the use of control orders that violate the individual’s rights to liberty, freedom of movement, expression, association and privacy. 12 August 2010
Britain's own Guantánamo
The injustices faced by those charged with control order breaches are indefensibly brutal.
Gareth Peirce, The Guardian, December 21, 2007
The reality of living under a control order
Statement made at the House of Lords meeting, 29 March 2006
Families speak out on control orders
A report of the meeting held in the House of Lords, 29 March 2006
The Forgotten Detainees under Control Orders
by Ann Alexamder, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, April 2005
A stampede against justice
In a plea to parliamentarians, Gareth Peirce spells out the dangers of control orders
The Guardian, 8 March 2005