Britain's anti-terror control orders condemned as 'trademark of despots'

[panzerfaust]

Source: Guardian (UK)

A powerful coalition of human rights groups has intensified pressure on the government to abandon its use of control orders, as ministers continue to wrangle over whether to scrap the controversial counter-terrorism measure.

An international alliance of civil liberties organisations has united to condemn the UK for presiding over one of the "most serious violations" of natural justice in any developed democracy...

Meanwhile the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has issued a statement "deploring the persistence of the use of control orders in the United Kingdom". It added: "In any area, such as the island of Ireland, which has lived with the corrosive effects of terrorism, it has become abundantly clear that applying measures of this sort does nothing to increase the safety of the general population. On the contrary, the mere existence of prolonged forms of detention without trial itself becomes a rallying point for those who wish to recruit people minded to subvert democracy."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/02/control-orders-human-rights-coalition-review

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Control Orders: A control order is an order made by the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom to restrict an individual's liberty for the purpose of "protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism"....The list of possible restrictions and obligations that can be included in a control order is long. It can place restrictions on what the person can use or possess, his place of work, place of residence, whom he speaks to, and where he can travel. Furthermore, the person can be ordered to surrender his passport, let the police visit his home at any time, report to officials at a specific time and place, and allow himself to be electronically tagged so his movements can be tracked.

In short, it provides for a graduated scale of technological "prisons without bars" ... http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=control%20orders&gwp=16

History suggests that it will not be long before such orders are used against dissidents and political opponents


Uncle Joe would have approved.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[defendandprotect]

2. K/R ... and we need to get rid of the Patriot Act...which was "ready to go" immediately upon 9/11!!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Hope they include the US on their list, too.

WE seemed to be not heard by anyone.
Maybe they will have better luck.

[cowcommander]

4. 1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual

It's sad how Britain's falling even faster than us. And it's even worse when you try to argue with actual brits against it, most of them are perfectly fine with it with a "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" attitude.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. 1984 was reportage, tarted up and called 'fiction'.

The book is about 1948, inverted. Orwell was being constantly watched by the government even as he wrote the book. He was not saying 'oh, it could get like this' he was saying 'it is like this'.
Not instructions, not sci fi, reporting. Think about it.

[dipsydoodle]

6. The depots of course being those who introduced them

New Labour aka Blair and Co.