NEWS: Belmarsh Terror Suspects Released, page 1

Update: Sky News is reporting now that eight suspects have been released

It's been referred to as 'Britain's Guantanamo Bay', but after three and a half long years; five suspected terrorist detainees have been released from Belmarsh Prison, London. The five men, none of whom are British nationals, were detained shortly after the September 11th attacks and held under 'emergency powers' enacted shortly after. The statute however, contained a 'sunset clause' which is set to expire this Sunday, meaning the suspects could not have been held after that date without being charged.

www.guardian.co.uk
Five foreign terror suspects today left Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, where they had been held without trial for up to three and a half years.

Five detainees were believed to have been inside two police vans which left Belmarsh at around 12.30pm today. The Home Office would not immediately confirm the men's release, or comment on where the vans were going.

It was not clear which detainees had been released today, but they were believed to include Abu Qatada, an Islamist preacher previously described by SIAC as being dangerous and at the centre of UK terrorist activities associated with al-Qaida.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

In my opinion this is appalling. Holding individuals indefinitely without being charged is a slap to the face of human rights activists and hypocrisy in the name of western society. The Houses of Commons & Lords are stuck in a deadlock over the current Anti-Terror legislation which Blair is currently pushing for, which would extend the emergency powers and allow terrorist suspects to be held under house arrest. The biggest disgrace if you ask me is that the suspects weren’t even charged. I wouldn’t like three and half years of my life taken away for nothing.

Related News Links:
www.sky.com

[edit on 11-3-2005 by Ishes]