[IP] (UK) Judges' verdict on terror laws provoke s constitutional crisis

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

_______________ Forward Header _______________
Subject:	(UK) Judges' verdict on terror laws provokes constitutional crisis
Author:	Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@newcastle.ac.uk>
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@ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


-------------------------------------
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/