Terrorising Minority Communities through so-called ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Powers

The UK’s so-called ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation broadens the definition of terrorism to encompass ordinary political activities. It creates new crimes of association -- e.g. with banned organisations, and with property or funds which may be used for ‘terrorism’. Excessive police powers of arrest and detention are triggered by mere suspicion that someone may be involved in so-called ‘terrorism’, including conduct that does not constitute a criminal offence. Foreign nationals are subjected to internment without trial; inequality before the law is being entrenched.

These powers have been used to terrorise minority ethnic and migrant communities. Their communal, friendship and political networks are stigmatised as ‘suspected’ terrorist networks. A few dozen arrests, with just a few prosecutions, have effectively intimidated entire communities. Mere arrest can undermine people’s reputations, livelihoods and freedom to travel. Moreover, police harassment and threats have clearly aimed to spread fear. People feel that they live in a state of siege, as populist prejudice is whipped up against them.

At the same time, the public has been encouraged to fear foreigners, especially those from Muslim countries. The supposed need for special powers has been justified by high-profile police activities, especially by using ‘anti-terrorist’ powers to arrest people who could have been held instead under immigration law or under the ordinary criminal law. In the run-up to the US-UK military invasion of Iraq, the government attempted to make us all fear violent attacks here. It sent tanks to Heathrow airport, linked the ricin poison to people arrested under ‘anti-terrorism’ powers, and branded various refugees as an ‘Al Qaeda cell’.

Meanwhile malicious rumours from government sources have been spread by the mass media, even before and during criminal trials. Ordinarily such character assassination would be treated as contempt of court, yet it has been tolerated and become routine. Despite all the scares, no prosecution case has presented clear evidence of plans for organised violence here; for example, ricin ‘traces’ found were no greater than those which naturally occur in castor oil beans.

Criminalising politics and community

The new legislative framework rests on the Terrorism Act 2000, which broadened the definition of ‘terrorism’. It was vaguely redefined to include simply 'the threat' of 'serious damage to property', in ways 'designed to influence the government' for a 'political cause'. This broader definition encompasses a wide range of activities, far beyond any involvement with organised violence -- which would anyway be illegal under the criminal law.

Moreover, organisations here have been banned on the basis that activities abroad fall within that vaguely defined ‘terrorism’-- regardless of the nature of the foreign government. This broad scope denies people the right to resist oppression, even to struggle against dictatorship. Soon after enactment of the Terrorism Act 2000, the Home Office banned 21 organizations, many of which have roots in ethnic minority communities here. The ban criminalises support for (and even association with) such organisations, thus undermining fundamental rights of free speech and association.

Such powers are used for political persecution, e.g. against human rights protests and oppositional publications. Bans on organisations, and subsequent prosecutions against a few individuals, have been experienced as an attack on entire communities -- e.g., Kurds, Sikhs, Tamils and North Africans. Political activities come under constant surveillance and are subjected to harassment as ‘terrorism’. Refugees are threatened with deportation if they do not cooperate as police informants.

Economic resources of communities are also threatened. The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001 empowers the authorities to seize property or cash, and to freeze bank accounts, in cases of suspected ‘terrorist’ purposes. These powers have been used to target ethnic minority businesses, organisations and charities. Their cultural custom of cash transactions has been treated as suspicion of terrorist links.

Internment powers

As its most draconian power, the ATCSA 2001 authorised internment. Any foreign national can be detained for an indefinite period without charge or trial -- in cases where the person has suspected ‘links’ with an international terrorist group but cannot be safely deported to their own country. Supposedly on those grounds, several people including Algerians, Chechens and Egyptians have been interned since December 2001. They are held on ‘suspicion’ of the security services alone, who rely on secret intelligence never disclosed to the internee or his lawyer.

Such measures are unjust, undemocratic and dangerous. They deny liberty indefinitely and suspend habeas corpus. To justify internment powers, the government had to derogate from Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which protects persons from arbitrary detention. The UK derogation is unique among EU member states. The supposed threat comes from international terrorism, yet it seems that only the UK has a ‘public emergency’. In reality, this is fabricated by scare stories -- reproduced in the mass media, and reinforced by using ‘anti-terrorism’ powers.

Internees are denied elementary rights. They may appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), but this provides no safeguards of a criminal trial, no presumption of innocence, no requirement that the state prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, no rules of evidence and no opportunity to test the case against them. SIAC judges only whether the Home Secretary has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is linked to ‘international terrorism’. Internment is an extreme case of a more general tendency: to use immigration law for detaining, stigmatising and terrorising foreign nationals accused of no crime.

Revoke the powers

Overall the ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation is an attack on democracy and especially on ethnic minority communities. Its wording and use has blurred crucial distinctions -- between political activity, communal networks, immigration issues and organised violence. Such blurring has broadened and trivialised the term ‘terrorism’, such that it becomes meaningless to ask whether its special powers are necessary to prevent ‘terrorism’.

For the reasons documented here, the entire UK framework of ‘anti-terrorist’ legislation is illegitimate, undemocratic and racist. It should be repealed. Meanwhile, its powers and its use should be opposed by anyone who believes in civil liberties. In particular, internment powers of the ATCSA should be immediately repealed; and everyone detained under the ATCSA should be released unless charged with a recognisably criminal offence.

ENDORSED BY

Mike Mansfield QC, Honorary Chair, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities

Green Party

Margaret Wright, Principal Speaker, Green Party

Rebekah Wilson, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

Jennifer Green, Bar Human Rights Committee

Stewart Hemsley, chair, Pax Christi

Rosalie Huzzard, President, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILDE) UK Section

Nick Hildyard, The Cornerhouse (Research Group)

Sait Akgul, Chair, Federation of Kurdish Associations UK

Ibrahim Dogus, Halkevi Kurdish Turkish Community Centre

Kurdish Community Centre

Stuart Hearne, Christian Khan Solicitors

Panjaab Watch

South Asia Watch

Mr Maharasingham, Tamil Refugee Action Committee

Ghayasuddin Siddiqui. The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain

Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, The Muslim Institute for Research & Planning, London

Zara Simans, People & Planet Group, Roehampton University

Massoud Shadjareh, The Islamic Human Rights Commission

Kate Adams, Kent Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers

Evania Inward, Slough Race Equality Council

Adrienne Burrows, Justice and Peace in East London

Socialist Resistance

Indymedia

Liz Fekete, CARF

Desmond Fernandes, Lecturer, De Montfort University, Bedford

Frances Webber, barrister

Kurdistan Solidarity Committee

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign

J. Lucas, Bristol East Green Party

Norma Anderson, Scottish Socialist Party

Edinburgh Stop the War Coalition

Stephen Smellie, UNISON South Lanarkshire

Mary Edwards, arist and teacher

Chesterfield Stop the War Group

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Jaffer Clarke, The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain etc.