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Interned Foreigners
Challenge Anti-Terror Laws
Foreigners interned under Britain’s emergency anti-terror laws were
taking Home Secretary David Blunkett to the House of Lords today.
The nine men are seeking to overturn a Court of Appeal decision
which backed Mr Blunkett’s powers to detain them without charge or
trial.
The government had to opt out of Article 5 of the European
Convention on Human Rights – which guarantees the right to liberty –
in order to bring in the controversial internment powers in the
Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA).
The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords – the highest court in
the UK – will be asked to rule on whether that decision to opt out
was lawful.
Seven detainees – currently held in high security jails – will be
represented by Ben Emmerson QC. Two more, including “D” who was
released by Mr Blunkett without full explanation on September 21,
will be represented by Manjit Gill QC.
The Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC will appear for the
government.
Civil rights group Liberty and Amnesty International have also been
allowed to intervene, represented by David Pannick QC and Edward
Fitzgerald QC retrospectively.
Nine law lords headed by senior law lord Lord Bingham will hear the
appeal.
The appellants – who have not been named – were expected to claim
that the government and the Court of Appeal interpreted the rules
which allow them to opt out of Article 5 too broadly, and that the
Court of Appeal was wrong to rule that the ATCSA was a rational and
proportionate response to the September 11 attacks.
Solicitor for seven of the men, Gareth Peirce, claimed last week
that the government’s case against them had been weakened by
publication of a letter from British Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam
Begg. The 36-year-old from Birmingham, who has been in US detention
for more than two years, claimed he had been forced to sign false
confessions.
Ms Peirce said these confessions may have been used as evidence
against those detained in Britain under the ATCSA – but this
evidence is kept secret under government rules to protect national
security.
The Algerian national “D”, who is in his 30s, was freed by Mr
Blunkett after nearly three years in detention. He was released
despite an independent commission confirming he was a terrorist
supporter and a threat to national security just 11 weeks earlier.
Yesterday protesters gathered outside Belmarsh jail in London urging
Home Secretary David Blunkett to release the detainees.
David Barrett, Legal Affairs Correspondent, PA News
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