Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

Civil liberties - new material (34)

01 May 1999

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

Liberty. Spring 1999, pp8. Latest edition contains articles on the M25 Three, the Macpherson report, Protection of Children Bill, equality legislation and the encryption of electronic messages.

A word in defence of Lord Goddard. Police Vol XXX1 no 6 (June) 1999, p5. Derek Bentley, a 19-year old with a mental age of between seven and nine, was hanged for the murder of a police officer 45 years ago. His conviction was overturned in July 1998 and judge Goddard who oversaw his conviction was described by one senior lawyer as "a Chief Justice who got away with murder." Now, the Police Federation have seen fit to launch a defence of Goddard, claiming "the saga has seen Bentley transformed from a street corner layabout into an innocent, uncomprehending victim of official vengeance, a process of rehabilitation that has stopped just this side of canonisation."

Backtrack, Jack. You've got it wrong, Maurice Frankel. Guardian 25.6.99. The director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information highlights the shortcomings of Jack Straw's draft Freedom of Information Bill. He warns that: "If another arms-to-Iraq affair occurred, nothing in the draft bill would shed even a glimmer of light on it. Neither the public, not Labour MPs, can regard that as acceptable."

Fair trials manual. Amnesty International (December) 1998, pp188. The manual provides a guide to international and regional standards for fair trial which are incorporated in human rights treaties and non-treaty standards. It contains sections on i. Pre-trial rights, ii. Rights at trial and iii. Special cases (including children, death penalty cases, special courts and military courts, miscarriages of justice, states of emergency and fair trials in armed conflict).

Parliamentary debates

Civil Rights Commission Bill Lords] Commons 22.4.99. cols. 1060-1131
Travellers Commons 10.5.99. cols. 84-96
Human Rights Lords 12.5.99. cols. 1276-1290
Freedom of Information Bill Commons 24.5.99. cols. 21-34
Freedom of Information Lords 24.5.99. cols. 664-678

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

UK: "Close surveillance" - crime-fighting tool of themillennium?

Next article 

NI: "Insufficient evidence" in O'Neill killing

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy