Court quashes Britain's anti-terrorism orders

[Eugene]

Court quashes Britain's anti-terrorism orders

By Peter Graff
Reuters
Wednesday, June 28, 2006; 10:50 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's High Court ruled on Wednesday that "control orders"
confining six terrorism suspects to partial house arrest breached their human rights,
throwing out a key plank of Prime Minister Tony Blair's security policy.

Under the orders, terrorism suspects who have not been charged with a crime have
been electronically tagged, confined to their houses for most of the day and banned
from using computers and phones or meeting people without permission.

"The six control orders are incompatible with the respondents' right to liberty under
article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights," said Justice Jeremy Sullivan.

<snip>

Blair rushed the new powers through parliament last year after courts rejected post-
September 11, 2001 emergency measures that had allowed police to confine foreign
suspected terrorists to high security prison indefinitely without trial.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062800827.html

[Greeby]

1. Sad thats its left to the House of Lords and the High Court

to fight President Tony's fascism :(

[goforit]

3. At least they have a high court, we have nothing!

[NorthernSun]

2. I wondered why Tony pushed to shut down House of Lords

Shortly after he took power.

[Greeby]

4. Well, to be fair

It was an old standing Labour policy to create an elected upper chamber. Of course, President Tony only wants it now because the Lords will stand up to him where the spineless New Labour ideologues in the Commons will not

[Nihil]

5. Not from Blair's point of view ...

Blair doesn't want an *elected* upper chamber, he wants a hand-picked
one (i.e., hand-picked by him). It is interesting to see that it's
mainly the "out-dated, anachronistic" hereditary members than have the
guts to stand up against him ... I know it's an unpopular view but there
is still something to be said for the continuity provided by them ...
:shrug:

[Vidar]

6. "Noblesse oblige" actually works in Britain. Nelson's famous

order to his sailors--"I expect every man to do his duty"--led to one of the greatest victories in naval history.