not the first such UK anti-terror law .. Re: [IP] (UK) Judges' verdicton terror laws provoke s constitutional crisis

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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Subject:	not the first such UK anti-terror law .. Re: [IP] (UK) Judges' verdicton terror laws provoke s constitutional crisis
Author:	Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh@hserus.net>
Date:		17th December 2004 9:06:33 pm

David Farber [17/12/04 05:10 -1000]:
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>Author:	Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@newcastle.ac.uk>
>>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 

Not the first anti terror law though.  Rather ancient history, but there's
the Rowlatt Act, passed in British India in 1919 on the recommendations of
a commission headed by Sir Sidney Rowlatt.

The most accurate description of this act is, I guess, in this short Hindi
phrase .. "Na Vakeel, Na Daleel, Na Appeal" - No Lawyer, No Trial, No Appeal

Needless to say, it was rather unpopular back then, even more so when the
arrest of two Indian politicians under this act made a whole lot of people
in the city of Amritsar defy a curfew order and organize a political
meeting in a city park to protest the arrests.  A whole lot of families
from the surrounding towns and villages, who were in the city to attend a
religious festival, also happened to be in the park.

The date was April 13, 1919, the park was called Jallianwala Bagh.

More on that park, and its history - are rather well documented in this
excellent website on Churchill -
http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/churchill/amritsar.htm

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