Home Secretary threatens to quit Amnesty
Home Secretary David Blunkett is considering resigning his long-term membership of human rights group Amnesty International, after his new anti-terrorism legislation was roundly criticised.
Mr Blunkett wasted little time in toughening up UK security laws after the 2001 September 11 atrocities in the US.
But Amnesty said the emergency internment laws were a “perversion of justice.”
Amnesty said the emergency legislation created a “shadow” criminal justice system for foreigners suspected of being “terrorists.”
The report “UK: Justice Perverted under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001” said UK laws were discriminatory as “there is one set of rules for British citizens and another for nationals of other countries.”
By incarcerating foreign nationals indefinitely without charge or trial, the Government had pooh-poohed international standards of justice, said Amnesty.
Mr Blunkett said last night: “It’s a very sad day for Amnesty International and a very sad day for me as a patron.
“When I became a patron and supporter of Amnesty many years ago I did so to support them in tackling death and torture, the threat of people having their lives taken away and their well-being destroyed.
“I didn’t join Amnesty in order to see them support those who, through every part of the system that we have set up, have been accorded and recognised as being correctly certificated as being a threat to us.”
