Original author: Press Release
Source: Liberty and the Civil Liberties Trust
URL: [link]
Date: July 4, 2007

A six-day hearing into the legality of the controversial control order scheme will begin in the House of Lords tomorrow. The Law Lords will consider if control orders, by which a suspect's freedom is severely curtailed although he has not been charged or tried in open court, violates the right to liberty and a fair trial.

James Welch, Liberty's Legal Director who led Liberty's intervention in the case, said:

"Punishing people and their families without trial makes a mockery of British justice. Labelling people as terrorists and leaving them in the community makes a mockery of security. Only charges, evidence and proof will protect our lives and our way of life in the long-term."

Liberty has called the control order scheme "unsafe" and "unfair" because seven of the 17 suspects on control orders have absconded and several lower court judges have deemed the scheme to be unlawful.

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