http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2004/12/19/57485.htmlBritish unlawful detention
05:43 2004-12-19
Britain's law lords have sat as a panel of nine rather than five only once since the Second World War. It is an indication of how seriously they considered the threat to British liberties posed by David Blunkett's anti-terrorism legislation. At Mr Blunkett's urging, Britain, alone in Europe, has withdrawn from article five of the European Convention on Human Rights that requires all signatories to bring whoever they detain to trial. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the government empowered itself to detain those considered a security threat without trial. As a result, 11 foreign nationals have been detained for the past three years in Britain's highest security prisons without trial.
The law lords declared this unlawful. 'Indefinite imprisonment... on grounds not disclosed is the stuff of nightmares,' said Lord Scott. Lord Hoffmann's excoriating analysis was: 'The real threat to the life of the nation... comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these.' Lord Bingham believed the act, in effect, discriminatory. In short, Mr Blunkett had overturned core principles of human rights. The government is now required to bring the prisoners to trial, which it says it does not want to do because of the sensitivity of the evidence, or release them.
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Bush wants more control for War Powers and now Blair wants it too!!!
This looks like a World wide movement!!!