Belmarsh internees "suicidal"
01 March 2004
"M", who cannot legally be identified, was the first of the Muslim Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) internees to be released from Belmarsh high security prison after being locked up on secret evidence from the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and the intelligence services that judges have described as "wholly unreliable" (see Statewatch news online). In his first interview, published in the Guardian newspaper on April 23 "M" protested his innocence, pointing out that there was no evidence against him indicating that he was a terrorist. He also claims that fellow ATCSA prisoners are suffering severe mental problems from being held without charge and without a time limit: "Three or four of them have become mad...They can't control themselves, they are not thinking in a good way", he said. "M", who is a 38-year old Libyan, was released from Belmarsh on 8 March, after being held for 16 months in the high security prison after his arrest in November 2002 on undisclosed evidence that was described as unreasonable, "exaggerated" and "should not have been used to justify detention" according to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). The Home Secretary's assertions about "M" were "not reliable" and failed to establish even "reasonable suspicion".
"M's" testimony on the health and welfare of the other detainees came on the same day that another ATCSA prisoner, known as "G", became the first person in the UK to be held under house arrest. The SIAC ruled that "he had become mentally deranged in Belmarsh and that his detention meant he was in danger of self-harm". Their view was supported by his solicitor, Gareth Peirce, who claimed that the government had driven her client into a psychosis. The decision was described as "extraordinary" by Blunkett, who had appealed against the SIAC's ruling last January. "G", a 35-year old Algerian who had been detained for two years, is now permitted to reside at his home under strict bail conditions and will be electronically tagged. He will be cared for by mental health workers. "M" told the Guardian that "G" knew that suicide was against Islam but had told him: "I am in prison, I am thinking taking my own life would do less harm than what prison is doing to me." G's solicitor, Gareth Peirce, said: "The home secretary has tried to stop this man from getting out and getting sane. He drove this man to madness. This is not what should happen in a civilised society."
"M" also alleged that he had been the victim of racism at the prison and that during the first few months of his incarceration he had only been allowed to leave his cell on two or three occasions. "We don't have enough time out of our cells in Belmarsh", he said, adding, "Sometimes we are locked in there for 22-23 hours a day." He also described a hunger strike by some of the detainees after discovering that the food that they were served "may not be halal"; a claim denied by the prison authorities, who only acknowledge some "confusion" over the food. They deny that a hunger strike took place.
A decade and a half ago Irish women and men - the Birmingham 6 and the Guildford 4 are recognised cases - were convicted on terrorism charges, and sentenced to some of the longest sentences ever handed out by a British court. The evidence against them was false, confessions coerced through terror and intimidation in the police station and the prison cell, a process that was justified by the government of the day as essential in the war against terrorism. The Labour government has done away with the need for evidence, relying instead on "wholly unreliable" information from an intelligence service whose stock-in-trade is deceit and mendacity. As "M" pointed out: "This country is supposed to be a democracy and they should have many other ways to sort this situation out...to lock people up like this is unlawful." David Blunkett has promised to bring in new laws to stop judges releasing terror suspects.
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