UK Treatment Of Terror Suspects 'Inhuman'
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UK Treatment Of Terror Suspects 'Inhuman'
Government waits 11 months before publishing scathing condemnation by European torture watchdog on imprisonment without trial
Clare Dyer
The Guardian
June 10, 2005
Government waits 11 months before publishing scathing condemnation by European torture watchdog on imprisonment without trial
Clare Dyer
The Guardian
June 10, 2005
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."
Clare Dyer is legal editor for The Guardian
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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."
Clare Dyer is legal editor for The Guardian
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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