UK Keeps Terror Suspects in Jail, Despite Judgement

[emad]

reuters
Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:38 AM ET


By Andrew Cawthorne and Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top court delivered a severe jolt to Prime Minister Tony Blair's post-Sept. 11 security policies on Thursday by ruling against the detention of nine foreign terrorism suspects without trial.

The British government, Washington's chief ally in its "war on terror," said it would send the controversial law under which the Muslim men are held back to parliament.

But it refused to release the nine -- one of whom is accused of inspiring the Sept. 11 U.S. attacks -- for security reasons.

The Law Lord judges ruled 8-1 in favor 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."

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=MB2KMCJF5EXYECRBAELCFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=7115584

Expect major repercussions for Poodle this weekend after this jinxed ruling....

[Deja Q]

1. How many flight simulator program developers also inspired 9/11?

All of those games which allow accidental crashes into buildings or those nice shoot-em-ups?

Just how far does this "You may have inspired 9/11 so we're going to lock you up forever" go if there's no evidence? If there is evidence, it's a different matter of course.

[Nihil]

2. "You are alleged to have said something that we didn't like"

One of the original reasons why the indefinite detention rule was
allowed was to allow the police/whoever a bit more time to discover
enough evidence to prosecute - i.e., the normal "assisting the police
with their enquiries" period wasn't seen to be long enough with respect
to terrorist acts. Unfortunately, other people seem to have jumped
with joy at the thought that not only did it not extend that period by
a *finite* amount, it defeated the point of obtaining any evidence for
the alleged crimes as the defendants could be detained until such time
as they were no longer wanted. Why waste time on a trial when you can
just keep your targets under lock & key without one?

Frightening.