6
A. AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
The derogation notice then set out the provisions of Part 4 of the Antiterrorism, Crime and Security Bill 2001.
12. On 12 November 2001 the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill,
containing the clauses which were to eventually become Part 4 of the Antiterrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (“the 2001 Act” – see paragraph 90
below), was introduced into the House of Commons. The Bill was passed
by Parliament in two weeks, with three days of debate on the floor of the
House of Commons set aside for its 125 clauses in a restrictive
programming motion, prompting both the Joint Committee of Human
Rights and the Home Affairs Select Committee to complain of the speed
with which they were being asked to consider the matter.
13. The 2001 Act came into force on 4 December 2001. During the
lifetime of the legislation, sixteen individuals, including the present eleven
applicants, were certified under section 21 and detained. The first six
applicants were certified on 17 December 2001 and taken into detention
shortly thereafter. The seventh applicant was certified and detained in early
February 2002; the ninth applicant on 22 April 2002; the eighth applicant on
23 October 2002; the tenth applicant on 14 January 2003; and the eleventh
applicant was certified on 2 October 2003 and kept in detention, having
previously been held under other legislation.
B. The derogation proceedings
14. In proceedings before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission
(SIAC – see paragraphs 91-93 below), the first seven applicants challenged
the legality of the derogation, claiming that their detention under the 2001
Act was in breach of their rights under Articles 3, 5, 6 and 14 of the
Convention. Each, in addition, challenged the Secretary of State’s decision
to certify him as an international terrorist.
15. On 30 July 2002, having examined both open and closed material
and heard submissions from special advocates in addition to counsel for the
parties and for the third party, Liberty, SIAC delivered its ruling on the
legality of the derogation. It held that, on the basis of the open material, it
was satisfied that the threat from al-Qaeda had created a public emergency
threatening the life of the nation, within the meaning of Article 15 of the
Convention, and that the closed material confirmed this view.
SIAC further held that the fact that the objective of protecting the public
from international terrorists could possibly have been achieved by
alternative methods did not demonstrate that the measures actually adopted
were not strictly necessary. Moreover, since the purpose of the detention
was the protection of the United Kingdom, the fact that the detainee was at
liberty to leave demonstrated that the measures were properly tailored to the
state of emergency.