[IP] (UK) Judges' verdict on terror laws provoke s constitutional crisis
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Subject: (UK) Judges' verdict on terror laws provokes constitutional
crisis
Author: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 17th December 2004 12:28:47 pm
Hi Dave:
I am, or at least was, much more used to reading
about the US Supreme Court - in contrast to UK
Law Lords (our nearest equivalent) - reining in
the excesses of the executive branch. Hence my
surprise at the following story, splashed all
over the front page of today's Guardian newspaper:
>Judges' verdict on terror laws provokes constitutional crisis
>
>Clare Dyer, Michael White and Alan Travis
>Friday December 17, 2004
>The Guardian
>
>A scathing law lords judgment condemning the
>indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects
>as a threat to the life of the nation left
>anti-terrorist laws in tatters yesterday.
>
>The ruling by an 8-1 majority held that the
>indefinite detention without trial at Belmarsh,
>and Woodhill high security prisons was unlawful
>under the European convention on human rights
>(ECHR).
>
>Constitutional lawyers called it one of the most
>important decisions from Britain's highest court
>in 50 years.
>
>But 24 hours after David Blunkett, the law's
>sponsor, was forced to resign as home secretary,
>Downing St and the new home secretary, Charles
>Clarke decided to tough it out. They would study
>the judgment - but made it plain they are more
>likely to renew the controversial laws than
>modify them.
>
>Lord Hoffmann, ruled that there is no "state of
>public emergency threatening the life of the
>nation"- the only basis on which Britain is
>entitled to exercise its opt-out from article
>five of the European convention, the right to
>liberty.
>
>It was the anti-terror laws introduced by Mr
>Blunkett which posed a threat, he declared. "The
>real threat to the life of the nation, in the
>sense of a people living in accordance with its
>traditional laws and political values, comes not
>from terrorism but from laws such as these."
>. . .
Full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1375827,00.html
Additional coverage at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/humanrights/0,7368,367207,00.html
This includes the following leader column:
>Ancient liberties
>
>Leader
>Friday December 17, 2004
>The Guardian
>
>It is difficult to recall when a minister
>received such an unenviable baptism as Charles
>Clarke, in his first day as home secretary
>yesterday. The ferocity of the law lords'
>judgment against the catch-all 2001
>Anti-terrorism Act - the government's
>"Guantánamo Bay" law, under which foreign
>terrorist suspects can be detained without
>charge or trial - was unprecedented. Remember
>this was only the second occasion in recent
>times that the law lords have sat as a panel of
>nine, rather than the usual five, because of the
>importance of the issue. They voted eight to one
>in declaring that detaining people indefinitely
>on suspicion alone contravened democratic rights
>and international obligations.
>
>As Lord Hoffman noted, the case called 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". His conclusion could not have been
>more unequivocal or blunt: the act was a bigger
>threat to the nation than terrorism. We agree.
>It has eroded the very freedoms for which we are
>supposed to be combating terrorism. Lord Scott
>went one step further, comparing the act to the
>"nightmares" associated with France before and
>during its revolution and the Soviet Union in
>Stalin's era. The act is abominable, but scale -
>16 suspects held - has to be taken into account.
>. . .
cheers
Brian
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
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