LONDON, Dec 16: Britain's top court delivered a severe jolt to Prime Minister Tony Blair's post-Sept 11 security policies on Thursday by ruling against the detention of nine foreign terrorism suspects without trial.
The British government said after the ruling it would send the controversial law under which the Muslim men are held back to parliament. But it refused to release the nine - one of whom is accused of inspiring the Sept 11 attacks in the United States - for security reasons.
The Law Lord judges ruled 8-1 in favour of the men whose imprisonment under draconian anti-terror laws, some for as long as three years, has become a cause celebre for rights activists who call their predicament "Britain's Guantanamo Bay".
"Indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law," said one of the judges, Lord Donald Nicholls. Among the inmates is Syrian Abu Qatada, accused of being the spiritual inspiration for the lead Sept 11 attacker.
Abu Qatada is also suspected of funding and inspiring top Al Qaeda figures and other militants in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Chechnya from his base in London.
The ruling was a setback for Mr Blair's government, which argues such severe measures are necessary for the wider good and opted out of the EU human rights' charter to enact them.
It came hours after Home Secretary David Blunkett, architect of Britain's anti-terrorism policies, resigned amid a scandal over allegations he abused his office to help a lover. His successor Charles Clarke said the nine would stay behind bars while parliament looked at the law. -Reuters
