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Britain: Labour government plans to introduce internment
By Richard Tyler
19 October 2001
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Last October, the Labour government incorporated the European
Convention on Human Rights into British law. Its passage was supposed
to enshrine certain fundamental civil liberties in Britain’s statue
books.
Just one year later, Home Secretary David Blunkett has told
parliament he would be seeking the “derogation” of the Convention’s
Article 5 outlawing arbitrary detention and imprisonment. This would
effectively enable the British authorities to introduce
internment—detention without trial for foreign nationals who are
considered a “threat to national security”.
The Home Secretary said that the emergency anti-terrorist legislation
was needed for “specific and targeted measures.” However, the new
laws will be cast so broadly that they could be used not just against
alleged terrorists but anyone engaged in acts of civil disobedience
or protest.
Labour is seeking to rush through legislation for the “war against
terrorism” with a minimum of debate or scrutiny. Speaking in the
Commons on Monday, Blunkett announced a swathe of new measures that
overturn basic democratic and legal norms. This includes an Emergency
Anti-Terrorist Bill and Extradition Bill, expected to be presented to
parliament over the next days, as well as a series of non-legislative
regulations stepping up state powers.
Significantly, the Anti-Terrorist Bill will include an “enabling
power,” allowing measures to be implemented by “affirmative order”,
i.e. without extensive parliamentary scrutiny.
Blunkett’s speech was a concoction of hypocrisy and barely concealed
threats. “None of those measures is intended to stifle free speech,
dialogue, or debate”, the Home Secretary claimed, but “There is a
compelling need for more effective powers to exclude and remove
suspected terrorists from our country.”
In the name of defending democracy and safeguarding freedoms, the
Labour government proposes to turn back the clock to a time when mere
suspicion of committing a crime, or an accusation from those in
authority, was sufficient to justify incarceration. Detention could
be based on membership of the 21 organisations outlawed in the
Terrorism Act 2000, which includes the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), as well as a host of
Islamic groups such as Hamas.
The Labour government is using the September 11 events to introduce
far harsher asylum and immigration provisions. Under the emergency
legislation, claims for asylum from those “suspected of terrorist
associations” can be rejected without any recourse to appeal or
judicial review. The state, and its various agencies will become
judge, jury and executioner for those seeking to claim asylum. Once a
refugee is labelled a “terrorist” they can be locked up without the
need for a court appearance, or be deported without any recourse to
legal redress.
Blunkett also announced that he would be undertaking a review of
Britain’s extradition procedures, with a view to enabling a suspect’s
rapid expulsion to a third state. This forms part of moves initiated
at European Union level to scrap existing national extradition laws
and replace them with an EU arrest warrant that would be recognised
in all 15 member states. It has been mooted that such warrants might
also be extended to enable the authorities in one EU state to order a
search or seizure of goods in another.
Other non-legislative measures include forcing communication service
providers, such as telecoms firms and Internet Service Providers, to
retain data from their customers for up to twelve months, which the
police and secret services can then “trawl” though to extract
information. This would include all emails sent or received over an
ISPs network, logs recording an individual’s visits to websites, as
well as details of phone and fax calls.
Stressing the need for “good intelligence,” Blunkett said police
would be given access to passenger lists and freight manifests, with
customs and revenue departments also being able to share data with
the police and other agencies. In addition to strengthening airport
security, wider powers would be granted to British Transport Police,
as well as Ministry of Defence and Atomic Energy Authority police,
enabling them to operate outside their normal jurisdictions.
One insidious proposal is the introduction of a new offence of
“incitement to religious hatred”, punishable by up to seven years
imprisonment. This has been justified by claims it will be used
against those expressing anti-Muslim sentiments. While it is far more
likely to be turned against more militant Islamic groups, it also has
the potential to stifle any public criticism of religion.
Given the seriousness of the planned legislation, the response from
the liberal media and human rights groups has been generally limited
to the most obvious areas of potential abuse, such as internment. In
the only editorial comment it has published so far, the Guardian
praised parliament for its “thoughtful, constructive but far from
complacent” response to Blunkett’s announcement. However, aside from
a handful of backbench Labour MPs, who recently tabled the mildest
criticism of the war (and were rounded on by the government for doing
so), parliament is united behind the Blair administration in pursuit
of the war against Afghanistan. Only a political naďf should expect
Westminster to champion democratic rights at home while it is loudly
cheering the most brutal acts of war abroad.
It was left to comedians and satirists to make outspoken criticism of
the proposals to introduce “incitement to religious hatred”
legislation. Rowan Atkinson, famous for his “Mr Bean” character,
wrote to the Times this week, “Having spent a substantial part of my
career parodying religious figures from my own Christian background,
I am aghast at the notion that it could, in effect, be made illegal
to imply ridicule of a religion or to lampoon religious figures.”
Atkinson goes on to say that whereas supporters of the legislation
would argue neither he nor the “comedy world” were its intended
targets, “laws governing highly subjective or moral issues tend to
drag a very fine net, and some of the most basic freedoms of speech
and expression can get caught up in it.”
In contrast prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Bindman, who was
involved in the case to deport General Pinochet to face trial in
Spain, dismissed such concerns for democratic freedoms, with the
assertion, “There will still be room for humour and rational debate.”
In this he was merely echoing comments by a Home Office spokesman
that there was “no intention to stifle fair comment and debate,
whether satirical or otherwise.”
Blunkett told parliament he would be “examining wider powers in
relation to incitement” and “conspiracy,” two areas of the law that
have produced the most miscarriages of justice. In future, the powers
the state is now seeking to abrogate to itself with the minimum of
democratic debate or scrutiny can be directed against all manner of
opponents of the government. The last time “emergency” anti-terrorist
legislation was introduced in Britain—the 1974 Prevention of
Terrorism Act (Temporary Provisions)—it remained on the statue book
for years, being renewed annually under both Conservative and Labour
governments. It was finally incorporated permanently in the 2000
Terrorism Act.
The PTA, as the law was known, allowed suspects to be detained for up
to five days without recourse to a lawyer, and included a form of
internal exile, in which people from Northern Ireland could be
“excluded” from visiting Britain. The British government’s pursuit of
alleged “Irish terrorists” gave rise to some of the most infamous
miscarriages of justice. Completely innocent people such as the
Birmingham Six or Guildford Four, falsely accused of having committed
bombings, were kept locked up for over a decade and a half. Labour’s
new version of the PTA has all the potential for more such legal
travesties.
Copyright 1998-2001
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
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