UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14: United Nations special envoy on human rights Hina Jilani said on Thursday that anti-terror laws enacted following the Sept 11 attacks by many nations were being used as tools of state terror.

In a report to the UN General Assembly, Ms Jilani, a human rights lawyer, observed that some of the security-related legislation was so broad that “when abused, these instruments can themselves be used as tools of state terror.”

She welcomed a US high court decision to hear an appeal about whether foreigners held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, might contest in American courts their indefinite detention.

“I think it is a welcome step that the Supreme Court in this country has opened the question up because judiciary is an important forum for protecting the rights of citizens against executive excesses,” Ms Jilani said.

“Unless the judiciaries the world over perform that role effectively and with an honest conscience, we will not be able to guarantee that human rights will be respected,” she said.

She declined to name any of the countries that she said were adopting legislation “which exceeds the legitimate objective of strengthening security” and could limit judicial review and human rights guarantees.

Ms Jilani said she was particularly concerned that human rights defenders, standing on the defensive front lines of the right to fair trials and due process, were being marginalized because the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was not being properly implemented.