Law Weblog

Charles Clarke responds to Lords’ ruling in A (FC) and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2004) HL (The Belmarsh Detainees)

The Home Secretary Charles Clarke has made a statement in the House of Commons in response to the Law Lords’ ruling in December. The Law Lords criticised the executive for detaining 12 men without trial because they were not UK nationals and could not be deported. The evidence against them is secret intelligence information which it is too sensitive to disclose to the suspects.
Clarke’s response is to promise a change in legislation that means that not only non nationals can be detained, and that the 12 might be subject to “Control Orders” – effectively house arrest – limits to access to others by phone or the internet – and tagging.
This announcement will be met with astonishment and condemnation from lawyers and civil libertarians alike. Of the 701 persons arrested since 11th September 2001 17 have been convicted. It is as though the government has taken no account of history and this announcement could backfire as did similar powers taken to deal with Northern Ireland terrorism in the 1970’s.
The UK remains the only country that has derogated from the ECHR in the aftermath of 11 September 2001.

Background
The House of Lords Appellate committee advised that the 12 Belmarsh detainees who are subjected to indefinite detention without charge and without prospect of trial are unlawfully detained. The 12 foreign nationals – who cannot be deported – are detained on suspicion of terrorist acts and because they pose a threat to national security. The Lords advised that the Home Secretary’s detention was discriminatory and disproportionate, and incompatible with the Human Rights Act and the Convention. In order to detain the suspects under Part 4 of Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the government derogated from Article 5(1) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and from Article 9 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.