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Stop & search under Terrorism Act on protesters ruled out by European court

rsposter | 12.01.2010 11:28

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled it out, following the UK House of Lords ruling it was fine almost 4 years ago...

We'll of course have to see if and how this ruling is put into UK law:

The use by police of terror laws to stop and search people without grounds for suspicion are illegal, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

The Strasbourg court has been hearing a case involving two protesters stopped near an arms fair in London in 2003.

It said Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton's right to respect for a private and family life had been violated.

It awarded them 33,850 euros (£30,400) in compensation.

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows the home secretary to authorise police to make random searches in certain circumstances.

But the European Court of Human Rights said the protesters' rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.

The court said the stop and search powers were "not sufficiently circumscribed" and there were not "adequate legal safeguards against abuse".

rsposter

Comments

Display the following 3 comments

  1. compensation amount? — query
  2. Legal Costs — lynx
  3. Unlikely to materialise — Reading the news