JURIST - Paper Chase: UK government appeals control orders ruling

[JURIST] British Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] asked the Court of Appeal [official website] on Monday to overturn a ruling that terrorism suspects cannot be detained without charge under so-called control orders [BBC backgrounder], arguing that a judgment last week by a High Court judge contained "misunderstandings and errors." Mr. Justice Sullivan ruled [JURIST report] that the orders authorizing the electronic monitoring or house arrest of terror suspects based on insufficient evidence to try them violate the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Sullivan also ruled against control orders in a related judgment [JURIST report] in April. On Monday, a lawyer for Reid told the Court of Appeal that Sullivan had misapplied the language of the convention and that Parliament tailored the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 [text], which authorizes the orders, to pass muster under the convention.

Control orders allow the government to impose house arrest and electronic surveillance on suspects and to forbid them from using mobile phones and the Internet. BBC News has more.

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