UK treatment of terror suspects report [COE CPT] News
UK treatment of terror suspects report [COE CPT]

Report to the Government of the United Kingdom by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Council of Europe, June 9, 2005 [criticizing the UK's treatment of terrorist suspects in custody at Belmarsh Prison]. Excerpt:

[M]any of [the Belmarsh detainees] were in a poor mental state as a result of their detention, and some were also in poor physical condition. Detention had caused mental disorders in the majority of persons detained under the ATCSA [Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001]. For those who had been subjected to traumatic experiences in the past, it had clearly reawakened the experience. The absence of control resulting from the indefinite character of detention, the uphill difficulty of challenging the detention and the fact of not knowing what evidence was being used against them had a detrimental effect on their health. The CPT concluded that for some of them, their situation at the time of the visit could be considered as amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Read the full text of the report here [PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

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