Thursday, January 27, 2005

UK: Home Secretary's proposal falls short of Law Lords ruling

News Release from Amnesty International:

"The United Kingdom (UK) authorities must release immediately all those detained under Part 4 of Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) unless they are charged with a criminal offence and given a prompt and fair trial. Today's proposals from the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, fall short of the government's obligations under human rights law, Amnesty International said today.

"'The 12 people, charged under Part 4 of ATCSA, continue to be deprived of their liberty without being charged with any identifiable criminal offence. Today's statement by the UK Home Secretary may alleviate the conditions they are under, but it falls short of doing them justice', Nicola Duckworth, Head of Europe and Central Asia Programme at Amnesty International said.

"Charles Clarke said today that detaining foreign 'terror' suspects without trial will be replaced by restrictions on movement and communication, in some cases amounting to house arrest. He said that the UK government will be seeking to deport some of them. The proposed new measures will also apply to UK citizens.

"'The Home Secretary's proposal flies in the face of natural justice - the presumption of innocence, the right to challenge prosecutorial evidence, the right to fair trial', Nicola Duckworth said.

"Amnesty International expresses deep concern over the proposal that some of the detainees may be deported.

"'The UK government must adhere to its international obligations not to forcibly return anyone to any country where they may face serious human rights violations, including unfair trial, ill-treatment, torture, or execution'."
[Emphasis mine - N]

All AI documents on the UK

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

eXTReMe Tracker