Anti-terror laws in disarray after suspects win appeal
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Emergency anti-terrorism laws introduced by the Government were thrown into disarray yesterday when a tribunal ruled the powers used to detain nine alleged terrorists without charge were discriminatory.
The internment powers that the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, rushed through Parliament last December after the 11 September attacks on America were ruled to be unlawful and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Justice Collins, the chairman of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, found that the Government's Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, was "not only discriminatory and so unlawful ... but also it is disproportionate".
The setback to the Home Secretary is the latest in a series of rebukes from British courts over attempts by the American and British governments to take action against alleged international terrorists and is likely to compound frustration at obstacles to the "war on terrorism".
A succession of extradition attempts of alleged Islamic terrorism suspects have been rejected for lack of evidence.
The special tribunal ruled that Mr Blunkett's use of internment was unfair because it allowed the detention of foreign nationals only, even though British citizens might equally have been involved with terrorist organisations such as al-Qa'ida.
The Home Office disputed the finding, saying the powers formed part of immigration law, which already distinguished between foreign nationals and British citizens.
It said that the nine suspects, who include a mentally-disturbed Palestinian man on hunger strike, would remain in high-security prisons until the results of an appeal against the ruling by government lawyers.