-Caveat Lector-
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Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 10:00:39 +0100
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: UK: Government in the dock for indefinite detention without charge
or trial
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
17 July 2002
EUR 45/012/2002
On 17 July eleven men, all non-UK nationals, are challenging the
lawfulness of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA)
2001 on the grounds that it violates their human rights.
Amnesty International is concerned about the consequences
of the implementation of provisions of the ATCSA which have
resulted in serious human rights violations. Under this
legislation, a person who is not a UK national may be detained
for an unspecified period of time, without charge or trial, if
the Secretary of State certifies that s/he reasonably believes
that the person is "a risk to national security" and a suspected
"terrorist". The Secretary of State's decision to direct
detention without charge or trial may be based entirely on
evidence which the detainees may never get to see or know about.
ATCSA detainees can only be released if the certificate
is either revoked by the Secretary of State or cancelled by the
Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), the tribunal
empowered to hear challenges against the ATCSA, grant bail, and
review and hear challenges to detention orders. ATCSA detainees
may also "voluntarily" leave the UK if they can find another
country willing to accept them, although this is likely to prove
difficult once a person has been labelled a "terrorist".
As such power is inconsistent with the right to liberty
and security of person guaranteed under Article 5(1) of the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and Article 9 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the UK government
has temporarily suspended (i.e. derogated) its obligations under
these provisions. The government justified such measures by
stating that the UK is facing a "public emergency threatening the
life of the nation". However, when the Secretary of State
announced the proposal for the legislation in October 2001, he
said that "(t)here is no immediate intelligence pointing to a
specific threat to the United Kingdom...". The UK remains the
only country that has derogated from the ECHR in the aftermath of
the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States of America.
Amnesty International opposes indefinite detention
without charge or trial. The organization calls on the UK
government to release those held under the ATCSA unless they are
charged with a recognizably criminal offence in a court of law
and tried in proceedings which meet international standards of
fairness.
Amnesty International considers that detention without
charge or trial under the ATCSA violates a number of other rights
of those detained under it which, under international law, the UK
remains bound to respect, including the right to bring
proceedings to have a court determine speedily the lawfulness of
detention, and order release if detention is deemed unlawful.
This safeguard, enshrined in, among others, Article 5(4) of the
ECHR, is a fundamental protection against arbitrary detention and
torture and has been deemed non-derogable at all times.
Indefinite detention under the ATCSA may be tantamount to
charging a person with a criminal offence and convicting them
without a trial. In this respect, Amnesty International considers
that the ATCSA violates the right to be brought promptly before
a judge, as well as the right to trial within reasonable time and
the presumption of innocence. These rights, which the UK remains
obligated to respect, are guaranteed in, among others, Articles
5(3) and 6 of the ECHR, as well as Article 14 of the ICCPR.
Amnesty International is also concerned about the
consequences of other aspects of the ATCSA. The ATCSA does not
contain provisions which would give people detained under it the
right to immediate access to a solicitor. Also, given that secret
evidence can be entirely withheld from those against whom it has
been adduced, SIAC proceedings violate the right to a fair
hearing. Despite the appointment under the ATCSA of Special
Advocates (SAs) to represent the interests of the ATCSA
detainees, SAs are no substitute for legal counsel. Once the SA
sees the secret evidence, s/he cannot discuss it with the
individual concerned or her or his legal representatives. This
secrecy undermines the ATCSA detainees' ability to challenge
effectively the evidence on which they may be held indefinitely.
Amnesty International considers that the conditions under
which the ATCSA detainees have been held in two high security
prisons in the UK: Woodhill prison, Buckinghamshire, and Belmarsh
prison in London, also violate their human rights. Upon their
detention, they were immediately classified as Category A
(initially, in fact, as Category AA). As a result of this
categorization, they have been subjected to the most restrictive
regime, including 22-hour lock-up with no meaningful activities
or adequate access to association time; denial of adequate health
care; impediments to contact with the outside world, including
denial of access to family for months because of delays in the
granting of security clearance and, once clearance was granted,
being subjected to "closed" visits with their families (i.e. a
glass screen separates completely the detainee from family
members); strip-searches before and after legal and social
visits; and restrictions on opportunities, time and facilities to
communicate with their lawyers.
Such detention conditions, coupled with the fact that the
ATCSA detainees have no way of knowing for how long they will be
held, amount to a violation of the right not to be subjected to
torture or other ill- treatment, enshrined in, among others,
Article 3 of the ECHR, non-derogable at all times. The detainees
themselves have described the situation to Amnesty International
representatives as "mental torture". In this respect, the
organization is concerned that their ability to instruct legal
representatives could be seriously undermined by a deterioration
in their mental and physical health caused by the conditions in
which they are held.
Amnesty International has been particularly concerned
about Mahmoud Abu Rideh, one of the ATCSA detainees currently
held in Belmarsh. In 1997 Mahmoud Abu Rideh, a 31-year-old
Palestinian refugee, was granted refugee status as a torture
victim and diagnosed as suffering from severe post-traumatic
stress disorder. His mental and physical health have seriously
deteriorated as a result of his detention. He is suicidal and has
been involved in frequent incidents of self-harm. Amnesty
International is concerned that his continued detention at
Belmarsh constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. A
request by Mahmoud Abu Rideh's legal representatives for him to
be bailed to a low level secure mental hospital was refused for a
second time on 24 June 2002 by SIAC.
Background:
Eight people were initially arrested and detained under ATCSA on
19 December 2001. Subsequently, two of those originally detained
have "voluntarily" left the UK, and three others have since been
arrested. Thus, of a total of 11 people challenging the UK
government tomorrow, nine remain in detention.
To the best of Amnesty International's knowledge, most,
if not all, of the ATCSA detainees are either asylum-seekers or
have previously been recognized as refugees in the UK. Amnesty
International is concerned that those detained under the ATCSA,
whether recognized refugees or asylum-seekers, are being denied
the opportunity to enjoy refugee protection under the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. In particular,
ATCSA detainees are not afforded the opportunity to challenge, in
the context of fair proceedings, any decisions pursuant to the
ATCSA which negatively affects their status or rights.
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