Law - new material (72)
01 July 2010
From ‘War’ to Law: Liberty’s response to the coalition government’s Review of Counter-terrorism and Security Powers 2010. Liberty, August 2010, pp. 138. This is Liberty’s response to the coalition government’s review of counter-terrorism policy, announced in July 2010. It covers control orders; terrorist asset freezing orders; Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and photography; the use of RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000) by local authorities and powers to access communications data; deportations with “assurances” to torturing countries; measures dealing with organisations that promote hatred or violence and pre-charge detention of terrorist suspects. It expresses concern that the coalition’s plans to revise counter-terrorism laws will lead to the banning of a wide range of political and religious groups. Available as a free download at: http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/pdfs/policy10/from-war-to-law-final-pdf-with-bookmarks.pdf
Cuts that do no Justice. Labour Research Volume 99 No. 10 (October) 2010, pp. 13-15. Article discusses the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition’s plans to close 103 magistrates’ courts and 54 county courts across England and Wales that are “underused and inadequate” in order to save £15.3 m a year in running costs and £21.5 in maintenance costs. Trade Unions fear that the cuts will not only lead to the loss of 900 jobs but also ”devastate access to local justice.” The PCS union has launched a Justice under the Hammer campaign to raise awareness about the impact of these savage cuts Justice under the Hammer website: http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/ministry_of_justice/justice-under-the-hammer--save-our-courts/
Five years on: Time to end the control orders regime. Amnesty International (EUR 45/012/2010) August 2010, pp. 26. The pamphlet describes the UK’s “shadow justice system” of control orders, which affects people accused by the authorities of involvement in terrorist-related activities, but who are unable to be charged with an offence for lack of reliable evidence. In place of the law secret “evidence” is heard in closed hearings. The report describes the distinguishing characteristics of this alternative justice system, which include: “...the wide scope for the state to deploy secret material against individuals which remains undisclosed to them and their lawyers of choice; to exclude those individuals, their lawyers of choice and the public from judicial hearings; and to keep key findings secret from the public.” Amnesty argues that this procedure: “...undermines the rule of law as well as the role of the fundamental procedural rights that are included in the ordinary criminal justice system precisely to protect the right to liberty and other human rights.” Available as a free download at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR45/012/2010/en/bbaadcd1-28fe-491f-9e4a-1550e63fbed9/eur450122010en.pdf