Top British court rules against detention of suspected terrorists
The British government said it would send the controversial law under which the Muslim men are held back to parliament.
However, it refused to release the nine for security reasons.
The Law Lord judges ruled 8-1 in favour of the men whose imprisonment under draconian anti-terror laws, some for as long as three years, has become a cause celebre for rights activists who call their predicament “Britain’s Guantanamo Bay”.
“Indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law,” said one of the judges, Lord Donald Nicholls.
Among the inmates is Syrian cleric Abu Qatada, accused of being the spiritual inspiration for the lead September 11 attack. Qatada is suspected of funding and inspiring top al-Qaida figures and militants in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Chechnya from his base in London.
The ruling was a setback for Blair’s government, which argues such measures are necessary for the wider good and opted out of the EU human rights’ charter to enact them.
His successor, Charles Clarke, said the nine would stay behind bars while parliament looked at the law which, crucially, does not apply to British citizens.
Lawyers for the nine, most of whom are in London’s top security Belmarsh prison, demanded their immediate release.
“There is no escape route for the Government whatsoever. It will provoke an enormous constitutional crisis if the Government fail to act swiftly,” said lawyer Gareth Peirce. She said four of the detainees had gone mad due to their treatment, and attacked a suggestion the government may respond by widening the law to include British as well as foreign suspects.
“Let them try to lock up British nationals indefinitely without trial. That would be a step no government here is prepared yet to take.”
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