Amnesty International on Blair's terror laws: Dangerous. Ill-conceived.

[struggle4progress]

Amnesty International on Blair's terror laws: Dangerous. Ill-conceived. An assault on human rights

By Ben Russell and Nigel Morris
Published: 02 November 2005

Tony Blair's plans for tough new anti-terror legislation have been subjected to a damning critique by Amnesty International, as MPs prepare to debate the measures today.

In a submission to MPs, Amnesty International denounced the proposals to increase police powers of detention and make a new offence of the glorification of terrorism. It called them "ill-conceived and dangerous" , amounting to an attack on "the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law".

The organisation's onslaught - in the strongest language it has deployed against the Blair Government - came as ministers braced themselves for sustained opposition to the Terrorism Bill when it is debated in the Commons from today. The Bill has already been condemned by senior judges, lawyers and civil liberties groups.

A potentially powerful combination of opposition and rebel Labour MPs are preparing to vote against plans to give police powers to hold suspects for up to 90 days without trial - denounced as effective internment. They also plan to oppose the creation of an offence of "glorifying"' terrorism. <snip>

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article324062.ece

[Matilda]

1. Perhaps Amnesty should take a look at John Howard's proposed new laws.

We don't even have a Bill of Rights or Human Rights legislation that
can be used to over-ride the more contentious provisions.

Neither do we have an effective parliamentary opposition to put up
any sort of fight against them; Beazley has already rolled over and
is playing dead.

Dark days are ahead for Australia.

[struggle4progress]

2. Terror laws spark secret detention fear (29 Oct)

The words "I am safe but unable to be contacted for the time being" will become the new Australian slang for secret detention under proposed counter-terror laws, Amnesty International Australia says.

Amnesty spokeswoman Katie Wood said commissioned legal advice to the human rights group had argued that the proposed laws would make secret detention a dangerous new element in Australian life. <snip>

Federal and state governments failed to meet Friday's deadline for agreement on the tough new anti-terror laws, but Prime Minister John Howard says he wants the measures in place well before the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March.

At this stage, the bill is expected to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday. <snip>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Terror-laws-spark-secret-detention-fear/2005/10/29/1130400397000.html

[cal04]

3. Amnesty International on Blair's terror laws: Dangerous. Ill-conceived.

Amnesty International on Blair's terror laws: Dangerous. Ill-conceived. An assault on human rights

Tony Blair's plans for tough new anti-terror legislation have been subjected to a damning critique by Amnesty International, as MPs prepare to debate the measures today. In a submission to MPs, Amnesty International denounced the proposals to increase police powers of detention and make a new offence of the glorification of terrorism. It called them "ill-conceived and dangerous" , amounting to an attack on "the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law".

The organisation's onslaught - in the strongest language it has deployed against the Blair Government - came as ministers braced themselves for sustained opposition to the Terrorism Bill when it is debated in the Commons from today. The Bill has already been condemned by senior judges, lawyers and civil liberties groups.

A potentially powerful combination of opposition and rebel Labour MPs are preparing to vote against plans to give police powers to hold suspects for up to 90 days without trial - denounced as effective internment. They also plan to oppose the creation of an offence of "glorifying"' terrorism.

Amnesty's attack comes after a recent warning from Lord Carlile of Berriew, the Government's terror watchdog, that 90-day detention could breach human rights law. The submission to MPs states: "Since the war on terror was declared by the US government in 2001, the UK authorities have mounted a sustained attack on human rights, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law." It warned that the Bill contained "sweeping and vague provisions that undermine the rights to freedom and expression and association, the right to liberty, the prohibition of arbitrary detention, the rights to the presumption of innocence and fair trial".

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article324062.ece

[flamingyouth]

4. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1893171