September 11, the Trojan Horse

Since the attack on the World Trade Centre by muslim fundamentalists, western governments - particularly the USA and Britain - have used that as an excuse to curtail civil liberties in their countries.

New laws have been passed so that people, especially foreigners can be detained without trial for long periods. Existing laws were amended to arrest anyone on the suspicion of being linked to terrorist organisation and detained without recourse to lawyers, or fair trial. For example, America pushed the limits the Patriot Act after Sept 11th. Its abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq and detainees at Guantanamo Bay showed the same trend.

Britain passed a counterterrorism law in April 2006 infringing rights of people suspected, but not convicted , of a crime. A suspect could be held in custody without charge for a period of 48 hours. Now, with the passing of this law, s/he can be detained for 28 days. Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted this period upto 3 months but had to bow down in the face of opposition.

The case of a young algerian man is typical. He was arrested in London in 2002, has not been interrogated even once until April 2006, spent more than three years in high security jails before being put under partial house arrest in October 2005. No formal charge was brought, neither he nor his lawyer  informed of any evidence against him.  …

[parts of the Description come from a news item in the International Herald Tribune, April 14, 2006]