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The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 is a British Act of Parliament intended to deal with the Law Lords' ruling of 16 December 2004, that the detention without trial of nine foreigners at HM Prison Belmarsh under Part IV of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was unlawful, being incompatible with European (and, thus, domestic) human rights laws. It was given Royal Assent on March 11, 2005. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent...
In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ...
The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, has a judicial function as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. ...
December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Her Majestys Prison Service is the British Executive Agency reporting to the Home Office tasked with managing many of the prisons within the United Kingdom. ...
The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 or ATCSA is a British Act of Parliament introduced as emergency legislation after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York. ...
The European Union is unique among international organizations in having a complex and highly developed system of internal law which has direct effect within the legal systems of its member states. ...
Human rights law is a system of laws, both domestic and international which is intended to promote human rights. ...
The granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a Sovereign or the Sovereigns representative in the United Kingdom and in Commonwealth Realms completes the process of the enactment of legislation by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Act allows the Home Secretary to make "control orders" on people he suspects of involvement in terrorism, which in some cases may derogate (opt out) from human rights laws. The Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. ...
Terrorism refers to the use of violence for the purpose of achieving a political, religious, or ideological goal. ...
Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...
Background
Despite having passed permanent counter-terrorism legislation only a year earlier, in the shape of the Terrorism Act 2000, the British government's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks was to rush through emergency legislation to increase powers to deal with individuals suspected of planning or assisting terrorist attacks within the UK. The Terrorism Act 2000 is a current United Kingdom Act of Parliament - An Act to make provision about terrorism; and to make temporary provision for Northern Ireland about the prosecution and punishment of certain offences, the preservation of peace and the maintenance of order. ...
The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks carried out in the United States on September 11, 2001. ...
A key feature of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was that resident foreigners suspected of terrorism could be interned without trial, if they could not be deported to another country without breaching British human rights legislation (for example, if they might be subject to torture or the death penalty in their native country). Several individuals were interned, mainly in Belmarsh gaol, under these powers; they were free to leave, but only if they left the country, which some did. Aspects of torture Incrimination of innocent people One well documented effect of torture is that with rare exceptions people will say or do anything to escape the situation, including untrue confessions and implication of others without genuine knowledge, who may well then be tortured in turn. ...
Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ...
The Government claims that it has evidence against these individuals that is inadmissable in court — or unusable in open court due to security concerns — and is reluctant to allow this evidence to be used. However, the House of Lords ruled that the internment of these people, without trial, to be contrary to the Human Rights Act 1998, mainly because the powers only extended to foreign nationals; the new act allows control orders to be issued against British citizens as well as foreign nationals. The word internment is generally used to refer to the imprisonment or confinement of people without due process of law and a trial. ...
The Human Rights Act 1998 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which received Royal Assent on November 9, 1998, and came into force on October 1, 2000. ...
Parliamentary passage
First stages The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on February 22, 2005 and allows the Home Secretary to make "control orders" for people he suspects of involvement in terrorism, including placing them under house arrest, restricting their access to mobile telephones and the internet and requiring that visitors be named in advance, so that they may be vetted by MI5. In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ...
February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Terrorism refers to the use of violence for the purpose of achieving a political, religious, or ideological goal. ...
In justice and law, house arrest is the situation where a person is confined (by the authorities) to his or her house, possibly with travel allowed but restricted. ...
Cellular redirects here. ...
The Internet, or simply the Net, is the publicly available worldwide system of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using a standardized Internet Protocol (IP) and many other protocols. ...
Current MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London MI5—officially called the Security Service—is one of the British secret service agencies. ...
The Bill passed the Commons, despite a substantial rebellion by backbench Labour MPs, and was sent to the House of Lords, which made several amendments; the most significant being the introduction of a sunset clause, so the Act would automatically expire in November 2005, unless it were renewed by further legislation, much like the Prevention of Terrorism Acts of 1974–89. A backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislature who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. ...
The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ...
A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ...
This article is about the British House of Lords. ...
A sunset clause is commonly a provision of a law passed by a legislature which causes that law to, in effect, repeal itself automatically as of a given date in the future, unless it is extended by another act of legislature. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Prevention of Terrorism Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom from 1974 to 1989, which conferred emergency powers upon police forces where they suspected terrorism. ...
1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Other amendments included requiring the Director of Public Prosecutions to make a statement that a prosection would be impossible before each individual control order could be issued, to require a judge to authorise each control order, requiring a review of the legislation by Privy Councillors and restoring the "normal" burden of proof ("beyond a reasonable doubt"), rather than the weaker "balance of probabilities". The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several jurisdictions around the world. ...
A judge or justice is an appointed or elected official who presides over a court. ...
This article concerns the British Sovereigns Privy Council. ...
Burden of proof is the obligation to prove allegations which are presented in a legal action. ...
The vote in the Lords was notable for being the first time Lord Irvine, friend and mentor of Tony Blair and recent Lord Chancellor, ever voted against the Labour government. The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, commonly called Tony Blair (born 6 May 1953) has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1997, when he brought the Labour Party into power after 18 consecutive years of Conservative government. ...
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ...
The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ...
Constitutional crisis The Commons considered the Lords' amendments on March 10 and rejected most of them. The Bill was exchanged between the two chambers several more times that parliamentary day, which extended well into March 11 and led to the longest sitting of the House of Lords in its history, of over 30 hours. March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
That the Bill was "ping-ponged" between both houses was evidence of an unusual constitutional crisis, notable because the urgency of the legislation — the previous powers to detain the individuals in HMP Belmarsh and elsewhere were due to expire on March 14, 2005 — meant that the Parliament Act, the usual device to handle situations where the Commons and Lords cannot agree on a measure, could not be invoked in order to acquire Royal Assent without the consent of the upper house. The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution, which means it is not all contained in a single document. ...
March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In the United Kingdom, Parliament Act refers to each of two Acts of Parliament, passed in 1911 and 1949 respectively. ...
Compromise Eventually, a compromise was agreed, with both sides claiming victory: the opposition parties conceded all their amendments for the promise of a review of the legislation a year later. The Bill received Royal Assent later that day, and the first control orders, to deal with the ten suspects previously interned in HMP Belmarsh, were issued by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, immediately. The Right Honourable Charles Rodway Clarke (born September 21, 1950) is a British Labour Party politician. ...
Some critics were still unhappy with the compromise reached in the evening of March 11, pointing out that an Act that removes the 790-year-old principle of habeas corpus, codified in Magna Carta, should not have been rushed through Parliament in the first place and that a review leaves it to the opposition to defeat the legislation, unlike a sunset clause, which would require the government to prove that these extraordinary powers were still a necessary and proportionate response to the threat of terrorism in the UK; comparisons were made with the detention provisions of South Africa's apartheid-era Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967. March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
In common law jurisdictions, habeas corpus, or more precisely habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, is a prerogative writ which requires the addressee to produce in court a person in its custody and justify his or her imprisonment. ...
Magna Carta placed certain checks on the absolute power of the English Monarchs. ...
The Republic of South Africa is a large republic located at the southern tip of the continent. ...
Apartheid ( International Phonetic Alphabet in English and in Afrikaans) is the policy and the system of laws implemented and enforced by White minority governments in South Africa from 1948 till 1990; and by extension any legally sanctioned system of racial segregation. ...
Few critics claimed that the terrorist threat was not real, merely that these powers were not the best way to address that threat, that arbitrary powers are more likely to lead to a miscarriage of justice and that prosecution in a court of law would be a better solution. The most commonly-presented counter-argument was that protecting British citizens' freedom to live and go about their lives without fear of terrorism is more important that the civil liberties of suspected terrorists. A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that they did not commit. ...
Civil liberties are protections from the power of governments. ...
Restrictions permitted by the Act Control orders may contain restrictions that the Home Secretary or a court "considers necessary for purposes connected with preventing or restricting involvement by that individual in terrorism-related activity", including: - restrictions on the possession of specified articles or substances (such as a mobile telephone);
- restrictions on the use of specified services or facilities (such as internet access);
- restrictions on work and business arrangements;
- restrictions on association or communication with other individuals, specified or generally;
- restrictions on where an individual may reside and who may be admitted to that place;
- a requirement to admit specified indivuals to certain locations and to allow such places to be searched and items to be removed therefrom;
- a prohibition on an individual being in specified location(s) at specified times or days;
- restrictions to an individual's freedom of movement, including giving prior notice of proposed movements;
- a requirement to surrender the individual's passport;
- a requirement to allow the individual to be photographed;
- a requirement to cooperate with surveillance of the individual's movements or communications, including electronic tagging;
- a requirement to report to a specified person and specified times and places.
This article is about the international travel document. ...
A photograph (often just called a photo) is an image (or a representation of that on e. ...
Surveillance is a process of close monitoring of behaviour. ...
Electronic tagging is a form of non-surreptitious surveillance consisting of an electronic device attached to a person or vehicle allowing their whereabouts to be monitored. ...
See also Shortcut: UK topics This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...
External links
The Act itself February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. ...
Government and Parliamentary reports and debates - Home Office page about the Act (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism/govprotect/legislation/ptb.html)
- Home Office page about the "Part IV powers" the Act replaces (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism/govprotect/legislation/atcsa.html)
- Report on Part IV powers (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs4/Part_IV_Feb_05.pdf) by Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC (PDF)
- Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights' report on the Bill (http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/jt200405/jtselect/jtrights/61/6102.htm), dated February 23, 2005
- Labour party briefing on the Bill (http://cryptome.org/ptb2005-briefs.htm), dated February 22, 2005 and leaked to Cryptome
- First Commons debate (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2005-03-10.1761.0) after the Lords' Third Reading, March 10, 2005
- Second Commons debate (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2005-03-10.1803.0) after the Lords' Third Reading, March 11, 2005 (after midnight, but still in the March 10 Parliamentary session)
- Third Commons debate (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2005-03-10.1854.3) after the Lords' Third Reading, March 11, 2005 (daytime on March 11, but still in the March 10 Parliamentary session)
- Backbench rebellion in the final Commons vote (http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2005-03-10&number=141)
Queens Counsel ( postnominal QC), during the reign of a male Sovereign known as Kings Counsel (KC), are barristers or, in Scotland, advocates appointed by patent to be one of Her Majestys Counsel learned in the law. They do not constitute a separate order or degree of lawyers. ...
February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Cryptome is a controversial website, hosted in the United States by its owner John Young, that functions as a repository for information that is prohibited or suppressed by various governments. ...
March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ...
News reportage - BBC News article on the Law Lords' ruling (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4100481.stm), 16 December 2004
- BBC article reporting the passage of the Act (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4341269.stm), March 11, 2005
- BBC article explaining the controversy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4288407.stm), March 12, 2005
- The Guardian article on the Parliamentary "ping-pong" (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/story/0,1320,1436086,00.html), March 12, 2005
- Islamic Human Rights Commission - Britain: An Outpost of Tyranny (http://www.ihrc.org.uk/show.php?id=1277)
December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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