Belmarsh - Britain's Guantanamo
Bay?
You don't have to go to Cuba to find terror suspects
controversially imprisoned. Nine foreigners have been held in
London's Belmarsh Prison for almost three years without charge or
trial. So is it the UK's Guantanamo Bay?
In December 2001 nine foreign nationals were removed from their
families by police and taken to Belmarsh Prison in south east
London. They have been held there ever since and still do not know
why.
The detainees are unable to see the intelligence evidence against
them and are confined to their cells for up to 22 hours a day. Their
solicitors say they have been "entombed in concrete".
The men are being held under anti-terror laws bought in following
September 11, which allow the home secretary to detain without trial
foreign nationals he suspects of terrorism, but cannot deport
because it would endanger their life.
To date a total of 17 foreigners have been detained, 11 of whom are
still being held - mainly in Belmarsh. It has prompted human rights
organisations to brand it "a Guantanamo in our own back yard".
'Faceless people'
"The similarities are striking and appalling," says human rights
organisation Liberty. "The lack of rights afforded to the men in
both places undermines fundamental civil liberties."
The conditions the detainees are kept under at Belmarsh have been
likened to the extreme regime at the US military prison in Cuba,
where more than 600 detainees - including four Britons - have been
held following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
This is something the Home Office has denied,
saying the prisoners are being treated well. "The men are held
in small cells for 22 hours a day, how is that proper
treatment?" says Amnesty International.
"We have heard reports of inadequate health care, restricted
access to legal advice, to the outside world and to practising
their religion. The conditions are cruel, inhuman and degrading.
The parallels with Guantanamo Bay are stark." |
THE DETAINEES
17 men arrest in total
11 still detained
2 have left the country
2 released without charge
1 released on bail
1 detained under other powers |
|
Home Secretary David Blunkett has admitted the situation is not
ideal, but says it is necessary.
"These were not powers I assumed lightly. I have never pretended
that they are ideal, but I firmly believe that they are currently
the best and most workable way to address the particular problems we
face," he has said in the past.
He is also quick to point out that while the men cannot be deported
because they face persecution, torture or death in their own
countries, they are free to leave the UK "if we can find a country
that's prepared to take them".
But while campaigners are keen to push the parallels between the
plight of the men in each country, they are also highlighting
important differences.
'Staged managed'
Public pressure has resulted in the government lobbying the US to
give the British inmates in the Cuban prison a fair trial, but there
has largely been indifference towards the foreigners held in the UK.
"There aren't pictures of the detainees at Belmarsh in fluorescent
orange jump suits being led around in manacles, instead they are
anonymous, faceless people," says Liberty.
"And while Guantanamo Bay is vaguely exotic to the average Briton,
Belmarsh is a completely inconspicuous building - even for a prison.
"This combination makes it hard to publicise the situation despite
the extreme gravity of what is going on. It is easier for people to
push the issue aside when they are not faced with such stark images
as we have seen from Guantanamo Bay."
The legality of the situation is also being reviewed in the US,
following a ruling by the Supreme Court that prisoners could
challenge their detention. So after being held without trial or
access to lawyers for more than two years, detainees are starting to
have their cases re-examined by a military tribunal.
In the UK just two detainees have so far successfully challenged
their detention, with three Court of Appeal judges deciding in
August that the government was legally entitled to continue holding
10 other men who appealed. Solicitors are now attempting to overturn
the decision in the House of Lords.
Liberty says it is "possibly the most important constitutional law
case for a lifetime". One it hopes will finally put the plight of
the men firmly on the public agenda.
"While the government has been seen publicly to lobby the US over
the treatment of Guantanamo Britons, it is treating terror suspects
the same way in its own country," it says.
"Over here it says such action is 'necessary' but no other country
in Europe feels the need to go down this path." Source: BBC News
Online Magazine
7th October 2004 |
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