Two of the ‘North West 10’ have won a landmark High Court victory, overturning the government’s decision to withhold bail on secret evidence. Ten Pakistani students were arrested in April in bungled terror raids across the Northwest and two have been locked up ever since.
Up until now they have been refused the right to see any of the evidence against them. The government must now reveal the evidence they claim shows the remaining prisoners would pose a threat if released on bail.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson says he will appeal against the decision. The judges ruled that the government was wrong to claim that this kind of decision is immune from judicial review. They said – as with other cases – terror suspects must be given evidence of why they are being refused bail.
This ruling does not mean that those imprisoned will have access to all of the information held against them as with normal criminal cases. The government only has to provide enough evidence to show the prisoners would pose a threat if released.
After their arrest in April, Greater Manchester Police found all of the students innocent after two weeks of interrogation. Most have been deported back to Pakistan but three remain in prison today. Despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year that holding people on secret evidence is illegal, even after this latest development they will not be allowed to see most of the evidence against them.
Those still being held are classed as category A prisoners, which means they are locked up with murders and rapists. They are frequently strip-searched and have to endure harsh conditions.
http://themule.info/article/high-court-rules-in-favour-of-north-west-10
Home Secretary Alan Johnson says he will appeal against the decision. The judges ruled that the government was wrong to claim that this kind of decision is immune from judicial review. They said – as with other cases – terror suspects must be given evidence of why they are being refused bail.
This ruling does not mean that those imprisoned will have access to all of the information held against them as with normal criminal cases. The government only has to provide enough evidence to show the prisoners would pose a threat if released.
After their arrest in April, Greater Manchester Police found all of the students innocent after two weeks of interrogation. Most have been deported back to Pakistan but three remain in prison today. Despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year that holding people on secret evidence is illegal, even after this latest development they will not be allowed to see most of the evidence against them.
Those still being held are classed as category A prisoners, which means they are locked up with murders and rapists. They are frequently strip-searched and have to endure harsh conditions.
http://themule.info/article/high-court-rules-in-favour-of-north-west-10
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murderers and rapists
04.12.2009 18:06
check your prejudices!
authority to find the innocent innocent.
06.12.2009 16:41
It is important that the policing function should be understood as separate from the legislative and juridical functions. The unity of all three under the police is what is properly called a "police state".
Whilst there are elements of a police state in modern Britain, it is a serious error to hand over to the police a power which even they do not yet claim to exercise and with which prevailing theory and statute do not yet endow them.
We need to understand that we are _all_ innocent until proven guilty. Enough of this loose thinking which instinctively hands to the police in blind obedience to their power now this new authority to find the innocent innocent.
To be clear, the sentence "After their arrest in April, Greater Manchester Police found all of the students innocent after two weeks of interrogation" should read more like "After their arrest in April, Greater Manchester Police, despite new broad anti-terror legislation and sweeping powers of arrest, search and surveillance, found no evidence upon which to formulate a charge after almost two weeks of interrogation."
Jim