Human rights watchdog criticizes UK treatment of terror suspects News
Human rights watchdog criticizes UK treatment of terror suspects

[JURIST] Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles [official profile] Wednesday criticized the UK for its methods of detaining terror suspects [press release]. In a report [DOC text] to the Council Gil-Robles specifically targeted "control orders", a form of house arrest instituted by the British government earlier this year [JURIST reports] after indefinite detention was deemed a human rights violation. Under the control orders system, the UK Home Secretary can force an individual to stay home and adhere to a curfew if the individual is believed to be supporting terrorism, a system Gil-Robles called "inherently one-sided" and a decision he feels should be made only by a judge. Control orders were introduced with the Prevention of Terrorism Act [PDF text], a controversial law approved by Parliament only after an agreement to review the act in one year [JURIST report]. Currently ten people are being held in Britain under control orders. BBC News has more.

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