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Guantanamo UK
The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act
2001 allows foreign nationals to be detained
indefinitely without charge or trial if they are accused by
the Home Office of involvement in terrorism and if they
cannot be deported to their home country, for example
because they would be at risk of torture or death. The
detentions breach the right to liberty guaranteed under
Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The
British government accepts this and has derogated from this
part of the Convention on the grounds that there is a
national emergency. Human Rights campaigners argue that the
detentions also breach the right to protection from "cruel
and unusual punishment."
Most of the detainees are being held in
high security at HMP Belmarsh, in cells described as
'concrete coffins' and in conditions which are tantamount to
torture. There is no prospect of release or trial and the
detainees are not told why they are interned or when they
might be released. The psychological pressure upon them and
their families is immense. In December 2003, a committee of
senior parliamentarians - on the Privy Council Review
Committee - called for an end to indefinite internment in the UK
and for the powers under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and
Security Act 2001 to be replaced "as a matter of
urgency."
Estella Schmidt of the UK's Campaign
Against Criminalising Communities says "Belmarsh is
Britain's own Guantanamo. UK anti-terrorism legislation is
being used to harass migrant and refugee communities and
suppress dissent; it fans the flames of racial hatred and
restricts the right of free speech."
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