No immediate release for Belmarsh detainees
Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said that the 12 men detained under anti-terrorism legislation in Belmarsh Prison will not be immediately released.
And he added that in the judgement of the security agencies, all still posed a significant threat to the country.
Giving the Government’s formal response to the Law Lords’ judgement that the current detention of foreign citizens without trial breaches the UK’s international obligations under human rights legislation, Mr Clarke said he still believed that the powers used had been necessary.
However, he accepted the Law Lords’ judgement and would be laying down a bill to move to an alternative system of “control orders”. These could see suspected terrorists ordered to remain in their houses, and denied access to electronic communications or leave to associate with named individuals.
Controversially, these provisions would also apply to British citizens unlike the current anti-terrorism laws, which only apply to foreign nationals.
Mr Clarke said he was “very well aware” that these proposals represented a significant increase in the executive power of the state against British citizens, but argued that “the threat is real”.
None of those currently held at Belmarsh will be released until the new legislation is in place Mr Clarke said.
For foreign nationals believed to be engaging in terrorism, the “control orders” would be combined with energetic efforts to deport individuals to their countries of origin – notably in North Africa and the Middle East. Deportation would only occur after assurances have been given to the British government that the deportees would not face torture or execution on their return.
Britain has previously been unable to deport the men, because to deport them to a situation where they face death or torture would have been a breach of the UK’s international obligations.
Addressing MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Clarke said that the existing Section Four powers had been used “very sparingly” and only after “careful security service assessment of the significant security threat they pose”.
Prosecution in a court of law remained the Government’s “preferred option”, but he told the House that this was not always possible for evidential reasons, to protect intelligence sources and also not to damage relations with foreign governments.
Intercept evidence on its own only played a small part in the cumulative case against individuals held, he said. Therefore the Government saw no reason to change current rules on inadmissibility in court.
