against repression - against prisons

NEWS AROUND PRISON AND LAW / UNITED KINGDOM

vom 30. December 2005

Gerichte verschicken Drohungen per Handy

LONDON. Säumige Zahler von Gerichtsstrafen in Großbritannien werden neuerdings von der Justiz per SMS mit Gefängnis bedroht und eingeschüchtert."Zahlen Sie oder Sie werden eingesperrt", lautete der Text, den die Amtsgerichte in der britischen Grafschaft Staffordshire unlängst vie Handy verschickten, wie eine Sprecherin der Verfassungsministeriums bestätigt.Bei dem Pilotversuch seien etwa drei Viertel der Empfänger so überrascht oder so eingeschüchtert gewesen, dass sie tatsächlich die ausständige Geldstrafe gleich überwiesen hätten. Aus diesem Grund könne die Taktik demnächst auf ganz England und Wales ausgedehnt werden."Denn jeder hat heute ein Mobiltelefon", erläutert Harriet Harman, die britische Staatssekretärin im Verfassungsministerin. Daher sei es auch für Gerichte sinnvoll, Gesetzesbrecher auf diese Art an die Begleichung ihrer Strafe zu erinnern." Zudem sei diese Art kostengünstig, schnell und wirkungsvoll. Die Drohnachrichten könnten demnach Teil eines neuen Vollstreckungsdienstes sein, der im April in einem Großversuch getestet wird und 2007 in Kraft treten könnte. Doch Handys könne man auch ausschalten, halten Kritiker dieser Methode dagegen.

[ nachrichten.at

23. December 2005

State of surveillance

Many people do not seem to worry that the Government is spending more and more of our money to monitor us.

To the civil libertarians who protest at the erosion of the liberties of free-born Britons, they reply: "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear." That was the response of many when CCTV cameras began springing up in high streets; when the national road system was first punctuated with speed cameras; and when the Government announced its plans for an "entitlement card", which suddenly mutated into a multi-billion-pound compulsory ID card scheme.

Now we learn that public funds are being set aside for a vast new surveillance database as Britain becomes the first country in the world in which all car movements are to be monitored by a seamless network of cameras, and then centrally stored for two years.

We find this idea disproportionate to any possible policing benefit, and repugnant in itself. Most of us would feel much safer with more police on the beat, offering a visible deterrent to criminals, rather than having technicians scouring hundreds of millions of our car journeys. Those who see no objection in principle to this enormously expensive scheme might ponder some of the practical drawbacks.

As the state takes more and more information from us - from where we drive to scans of our irises - we become commensurately weaker and more vulnerable. Scores of relatively junior and poorly paid clerical staff will henceforth have access to how all of us live our lives. What power over us this gives the computer operator; how intriguing it might be, at the end of a long boring shift, to check up, say, on the movements of an old girlfriend. The Government will say the system will be secure and foolproof, but the recent history of public sector computer programs hardly inspires confidence. As the state grows ever more insistent in its demand to monitor us, and preach to us as to how we live our lives, there is much a law-abiding citizen might choose to hide, and a great deal more to fear.

[ telegraph.co.uk

22. Dezember 2005

die zur zeit letzte anordnung der schottischen regierung zu dem am 26. märz in kraft tretenden nichtraucherinnen- gesetz : um die angestellten öffentlichen dienstes vor den gefahren des passivrauchens zu schützen, werden vor hausbesuchen briefe verschickt in denen gebeten wird eine stunde vor dessen eintreffen nicht zu rauchen. dazu soll eine art landkarte angelegt werden, in denen die häuser / wohnungen von raucherinnen gekennzeichnet werden. eine direkte sanktion ist bisher nicht geplant, es wurde nur gesagt daß es sein könnte daß die angestellten, dazu zählen sozialarbeiterinnen, altenpflegerinnen, hebammen usw., besuche verweigern können, sollte auf mehrmalige ?bitte? nicht reagiert werden.

Now Executive warns: no smoking at home
Public asked not to light up before visits from public sector workers

THE public are to be told not to smoke in their own homes as part of plans to protect public sector workers from the effect of passive smoking. The move is the latest part of the Scottish Executive's ban on smoking in public places, which will come into force on 26 March next year. Ministers have told councils, health boards and social work departments that they should compile a "smokers' map" of Scotland, focusing on those who regularly receive visits from officials and carers. This would identify individual households where a smoker is resident.

The smokers would then be sent letters asking them not to smoke for one hour before a council worker or health worker called round. Public bodies have also been advised to use the smokers' map to ensure that any workers who suffer from breathing problems are kept away from the homes of smokers. But the Executive advice, which was issued to all councils, health boards and care service-providers yesterday, was derided as a "bureaucratic waste of money", and "politically correct nonsense". There are tens of thousands of people who get visits from public sector workers at home. Many council house tenants receive official visitors for a whole variety of reasons; women with babies are visited by midwives and health visitors; the elderly and infirm often get called on by social workers and home helps; and the sick are visited by GPs.

Critics warned that the compilation of accurate and detailed lists would take time and resources. Murdo Fraser, the deputy leader of the Scottish Tories, said: "This is a huge bureaucratic burden being put on local authorities and other public agencies when we are supposed to be promoting efficient government and a reduction in bureaucracy. This is simply going to lump a huge additional cost on to all those who comply with it." Mike Rumbles, a Liberal Democrat MSP on the parliament's health committee, said: "This is politically correct nonsense, it is political correctness gone mad. We have a good law to prevent passive smoking harming people by banning smoking in enclosed public places. Public places, not private spaces. What is the Executive doing getting involved in people's homes?"

The Executive's ban on smoking in all public places comes into force at the end of March next year and, as part of the work to prepare the country for the change, the Executive compiled a glossy 50-page booklet to advise public bodies how to enforce the ban. Much of the publication is clear and logical, explaining what the ban will mean, how it will be enforced and what the role of employers will be. But it also contains new Executive guidelines on smoking in private homes, which is not covered by the ban.

Ministers said they wanted to make sure they did everything possible to protect council workers, health professionals and social service personnel who, as part of their work, have to go to private homes where smokers live The advice asks public bodies: "Does your organisation know which of the homes visited by its staff are occupied by smokers? If not, it would be advisable to develop such a list. Once the situation relating to individual properties is ascertained, steps can be taken to reduce the exposure the staff might face. "Measures that can be taken include writing to all those who will be visited to ask them, and those who may be with them, not to smoke during the visit, and ideally not to smoke for an hour or so before the visit is scheduled to take place."

The guidelines go on to advise public sector managers to protect those with breathing difficulties from going to the homes of smokers and rotating other workers around other homes, to make sure they do not have to go to the same smoky environment twice in succession. Although the guidelines are intended to cover the houses of those who get regular home visits, it is possible the advice might extend much wider and some councils might use it to cover all those who get any sort of public sector visit. They could do this by putting a standard request on all letters which advise of any sort of visit, from a planning officer to a environmental health official, asking the recipient to refrain from smoking for the duration of the visit.

The move was defended by Unison, the public service union. A spokesman said there were concerns about the exposure of public workers to smoke in private and residential homes and there had to be guidance to help protect them. He said: "Nobody is in a position to say that people should not have the ability to do what they wish in their own space. But there is a knock-on effect on the people who work in these areas and, to cover those, we would have to make sure that proper risk assessments are done and the risks are removed where possible and minimised where it is not possible to remove them."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive stressed that councils and other bodies were not expected to incur any extra costs as a result of the new guidelines. She said: "The list could be compiled in the course of the day-to-day duties of those who make home visits." And she added: "There will be no additional funding for this because there are no additional costs." The spokeswoman conceded that some health and council workers might refuse to continue home visits to those who stubbornly continued to smoke, despite requests to stop. But she insisted this would almost certainly not happen because most, if not all, of those people who were asked would stop smoking for the duration of a home visit. Andy Kerr, the health minister, said: "We have made it clear that residential accommodation is exempt from the legislation. For it to be otherwise would be an infringement of human rights.

"But we recognise there are instances where people will have to visit a residential property to do their job - and this guidance will help ensure that workers are exposed to passive smoke as little as possible." According to a survey published by the Scottish Executive, support for the smoke-free legislation has remained at 58 per cent since August, with 92 per cent of people aware of the new laws. Awareness of the risks of passive smoking increased from 83 per cent in May to 90 per cent in November. However, just 7 per cent of smokers said the ban would help them quit smoking. The number of people who did not allow smoking in their homes remained consistent at 42 per cent.

[ scotsman.com

22. Dezember 2005

von 2006 an wird uk das erste land sein daß jede fahrt von jedem auto überwacht. die aufzeichnungen werden bei diesem neuen überwachungssystem für mindestens zwei jahre archiviert. die datenbank soll über ein netzwerk von kamera, die automatisch bei jedem vorbeifahrenden auto die nummernschildern liest, aufgebaut werden. es soll bereits pläne geben die aufzeichnungen 5 jahre aufzuheben.

Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey

From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years. Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.

The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to provide 24/7 coverage of all motorways and main roads, as well as towns, cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts. By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million number-plate "reads" per day. These will include time, date and precise location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning satellites. Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so that details of up to 100 million number plates can be fed each day into the central databank.

Senior police officers have described the surveillance network as possibly the biggest advance in the technology of crime detection and prevention since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting. But others concerned about civil liberties will be worried that the movements of millions of law-abiding people will soon be routinely recorded and kept on a central computer database for years. The new national data centre of vehicle movements will form the basis of a sophisticated surveillance tool that lies at the heart of an operation designed to drive criminals off the road.

In the process, the data centre will provide unrivalled opportunities to gather intelligence data on the movements and associations of organised gangs and terrorist suspects whenever they use cars, vans or motorcycles. The scheme is being orchestrated by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and has the full backing of ministers who have sanctioned the spending of �24m this year on equipment. More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras so they can read number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon via a secure police communications network.

Chief constables are also on the verge of brokering agreements with the Highways Agency, supermarkets and petrol station owners to incorporate their own CCTV cameras into the network. In addition to cross-checking each number plate against stolen and suspect vehicles held on the Police National Computer, the national data centre will also check whether each vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid MoT test certificate. "Every time you make a car journey already, you'll be on CCTV somewhere. The difference is that, in future, the car's index plates will be read as well," said Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). "What the data centre should be able to tell you is where a vehicle was in the past and where it is now, whether it was or wasn't at a particular location, and the routes taken to and from those crime scenes. Particularly important are associated vehicles," Mr Whiteley said.

The term "associated vehicles" means analysing convoys of cars, vans or trucks to see who is driving alongside a vehicle that is already known to be of interest to the police. Criminals, for instance, will drive somewhere in a lawful vehicle, steal a car and then drive back in convoy to commit further crimes "You're not necessarily interested in the stolen vehicle. You're interested in what's moving with the stolen vehicle," Mr Whiteley explained. According to a strategy document drawn up by Acpo, the national data centre in Hendon will be at the heart of a surveillance operation that should deny criminals the use of the roads. "The intention is to create a comprehensive ANPR camera and reader infrastructure across the country to stop displacement of crime from area to area and to allow a comprehensive picture of vehicle movements to be captured," the Acpo strategy says.

"This development forms the basis of a 24/7 vehicle movement database that will revolutionise arrest, intelligence and crime investigation opportunities on a national basis," it says. Mr Whiteley said MI5 will also use the database. "Clearly there are values for this in counter-terrorism," he said. "The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don't have access to. It's part of public protection. If the security services did not have access to this, we'd be negligent."

[ independent.co.uk

Jedes Fahrzeug wird identifiziert

In Großbritannien wird mit Tausenden von Kameras zur Nummernerkennung ein nationales Überwachungssystem für die Bewegung von Fahrzeugen aufgebaut

In Großbritannien wird von der Association of Chief Police Officers ( Acpo (1)) die Einführung eines landesweiten Straßenüberwachungssystems zur Erkennung der Fahrzeugkennzeichen vorangetrieben. Großbritannien sei Pionier der Technik und ihrer Umsetzung gewesen, so heißt es, und müssen auch weiterhin an der Spitze bleiben. Das auch von der Regierung unterstützte Überwachungsprogramm läuft unter der Devise: Den Kriminellen die Nutzung der Straßen verwehren (2).

Die Technik zur Fahrzeugnummererkennung mit Automatic Number Plate Recognition-Kameras (ANPR) gibt es schon über 20 Jahre. In Großbritannien sind Überwachungskameras, die mit von Cambridge Neurodynamics entwickelten neuronalen Netzwerken die Nummern erkennen, Mitte der 90er Jahre in den "ring of steel" um London integriert worden. Damit können alle Fahrzeuge, die in die Innenstadt fahren oder diese verlassen, erfasst werden. Eingeführt wurde der "ring of steel" zur Verkehrsüberwachung und �lenkung, aber auch für Sicherheitszwecke. Mit den Kameras lässt sich auch der Weg eines Fahrzeugs aktuell und nachträglich verfolgen. Über die Fahrzeugnummer kann man nach Daten in allen möglichen Datenbanken suchen, also überprüfen, wer der Fahrzeughalter ist oder ob das Fahrzeug gestohlen wurde, versichert und zugelassen ist etc.

2003 wurde das System mit Hunderten weiterer Überwachungskameras ausgebaut, um die Innenstadt vom Verkehr zu entlasten. Wer in die Innenstadt mit seinem Fahrzeug will, muss seitdem eine Mautgebühr zahlen. Die Kameras erfassen für diese Zwecke die Nummernschilder, um mit dieser Identifizierung festzustellen, ob die Maut bezahlt wurde. Daneben wurden aber auch Überwachungskameras installiert, mit denen sich die Gesichter der Fahrer abbilden und mit einem Gesichtserkennungsprogramm automatisch identifizieren lassen. So erfüllt das Mautsystem, wie jedes andere auch, beispielsweise das deutsche von Toll Collect, prinzipiell zugleich eine Überwachungsfunktion.

Die Überwachung zunächst anhand von ANPR-Kameras soll nun landesweit für alle Autobahnen und größeren Straßen, auch in Städten und Dörfern, eingeführt. Dazu müssen Tausende von Kameras aufgestellt und bereits vorhandene Überwachungskameras aufgerüstet werden. Nach der Acpo haben Modellversuche vor allem mit mobilen ANPR-Kameras ergeben (3), dass deren Einsatz zu einer beträchtlichen Steigerung der Verhaftungen führen. Ein landesweites System würde nicht nur die Bekämpfung von Kriminalität und Terrorismus sowie die Strafverfolgung verbessern, sondern auch die Sicherheit auf den Straßen erhöhen, eine bessere Ahndung oder Verhinderung von Verkehrsvergehen ermöglichen und allgemein die Verbrechensrate reduzieren. Beeinträchtigungen für den Datenschutz sieht man bei der Polizei nicht, schließlich seien auch die Überwachungskameras, mit denen das Land überzogen ist, gut aufgenommen worden. Von vielen würden Überwachungskameras "als Verbesserung der Menschenrechte von gesetzestreuen Bürgern" angesehen.

Auch wenn bereits Gelder in den Aufbau von ANPR-Programmen von der Regierung fließen, reichen diese bei weitem nicht für das Projekt eines nationalen Überwachungssystems aus. Allerdings werden schon ab März 2006 täglich 35 Millionen Fahrzeugnummern, von den bereits vorhandenen Kameras erfasst werden, zentral für mindestens zwei Jahre gespeichert. Mit den Nummern werden Datum, Uhrzeit und Ort mitgespeichert. Wie der Independent berichtet (4), plant man, möglichst bald Tausende von zusätzlichen fixierten und mobilen Kameras zu integrieren, bis zu 100 Millionen Fahrzeugnummer täglich zu speichern und die Daten bis zu fünf Jahre aufzubewahren. Auch das wären freilich erst zwei bis drei Prozent aller Fahrzeuge. Die Polizei steht in Verhandlungen mit Autobahnbetreibern und Besitzern von Supermärkten und Tankstellen, um die Überwachungskameras mit ANPR aufzurüsten.

Frank Whiteley, Polizeichef von Hertfordshire und der Vorsitzende des Acpo-Ausschusses zur ANPR-Einführung erklärt: "Jedes Mal, wenn Sie mit dem Auto fahren, werden sie jetzt schon irgendwo von einer Überwachungskamera erfasst. Der Unterschied in Zukunft ist, dass auch die Nummernschilder gelesen werden." Interessant an der Speicherung ist, so Whiteley, dass man auch erkennen kann, "wo ein Fahrzeug in der Vergangenheit war und wo es jetzt ist, ob es an einem bestimmten Ort war und welche Wege zu oder von Tatorten genommen wurden". Man kann aber auch mit einem Fahrzeug "verbundene" Fahrzeuge erkennen, also ob Autos in Konvois fahren oder ob jemand mit einem Fahrzeug an einen Ort gelangt und dann mit einem gestohlenen Fahrzeug weiterfährt. In Großbritannien denkt man auch daran, jedes Fahrzeug mit einem Chip zur Erkennung und Lokalisierung auszustatten, womit man ebenfalls Mautgebühren und Überwachung verbinden kann. Dies würde die ANPR-Überwachung ergänzen und vertiefen, aber aus Sicht der Sicherheitsbehörden nicht notwendig überflüssig machen.

Auch die Geheimdienste werden Zugriff auf die umfassende nationale Datenbank mit allen Fahrzeugbewegungen haben. Ergänzt mit der Speicherung aller Kommunikationsdaten, die nun vor allem auf Druck von Großbritannien auch in der EU mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit kommen wird, werden dann die Bewegungen der Menschen im realen und virtuellen Raum weitgehend erfasst. Stattet man in einem nächsten und erwartbaren Schritt die Überwachungskameras auf den Straßen und für den Verkehr noch zusätzlich mit Programmen zur Gesichtserkennung aus, dann ist es nicht mehr sehr weit zur totalen Rundumüberwachung.

Links

(1) http://www.acpo.police.uk

(2) http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/anpr_strat_2005-08_march05_12x04x05.doc

(3) http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/police-reform/reform-programme/Police-support/plate-recognition

[ telepolis.de

18 December 2005

There is Nowhere to hide

An array of over 300 CCTV cameras keep Scotland�s most violent city under 24-hour surveillance. Rachelle Money visits the nerve centre as festive revellers take to the streets

It could be a scene from Hollywood blockbuster The Truman Show. Hundreds of TV screens drape the walls of a darkened room with a handful of people watching every move, occasionally using a joystick to move the position of the cameras that are collecting images, zooming in for a closer look.

But the people being watched aren�t part of an elaborate television production: this is Glasgow city centre during one of the busiest weekends of the year, when police expect up to 70,000 revellers in the area. Streetwatch, a charitable organisation funded partly by Glasgow City Council, monitors the city centre�s 300 public CCTV cameras from its HQ in Blochairn. A mobile van which houses eight cameras sits outside Central Station and monitors the taxi rank queue and surrounding area of Gordon Street. This is the third weekend the van has been in this location and it will maintain its presence in the street at weekends, from midnight to 4am, until after the New Year.

�Is this about public reassurance or big brother watching you? It�s a question we have to ask,� says Frank Macfadden, chief executive of Streetwatch. �Obviously we see it as reassuring people out there that we�re here and if anything happens we can contact the police quickly, or even dissolve a situation before it gets to that. �We get some people saying �I don�t want to be watched�. We�ve even had some characters come to the gates outside the building asking us why they�re being followed on CCTV and asking us not to do it. But when people actually come here to our hub they can see what it�s all about and why it�s so important.� The �hub� is being manned by 12 CCTV operators who Macfadden says are all �model citizens with clean records�. Each camera costs around �25,000 and the system captures 20,000 incidents a year. According to the findings of a survey published earlier this month, thousands of Glaswegians are too afraid to venture into the city at night.

One operator zooms in on an argument taking place on Duke Street in the Dennistoun area. A young man and woman start shoving each other on the pavement and the woman appears to be slung against a wall. The CCTV operator quickly radios the police to attend the scene but the fight soon disperses. Two police officers arrive at the Streetwatch offices to retrieve a tape. Earlier in the evening they had been radioed after a CCTV operator saw a man putting something into a crevice in a wall in the Maryhill area. When police searched the hiding place they found a five-inch knife and took the man into custody. Remarkably, within minutes of spotting the man hiding the knife, the same CCTV operator foiled another crime. While observing the man the CCTV operator noticed he was staring at something in the other direction. The operator pulled out the camera angle for a better view and promptly saw two men attempting to steal a motorbike 200 yards away. The same staff member saw a woman wielding a samurai sword the day before.

Streetwatch�s 44 members of staff cover the cameras 24 hours a day, all year round. Back at the van outside Central Station, the community wardens are monitoring the taxi rank for any queue-jumping or fights. The Taxi Owners Association are also out, as are FirstBus wardens, who make sure revellers are safe when catching the night bus home. The FirstBus workers and community wardens have radios that link up with the Streetwatch van. Police presence on Friday night was high and because of that the evening remained quiet with few arrests. It�s no surprise Streetwatch has received 93% public support, but an operation on this scale costs thousands of pounds to run every night.

At 3.30am there are a couple of skirmishes but they are quickly tackled by nearby police. A man is spotted lying on the pavement underneath a shop window beside the taxi queue. Police are quick to attend and an ambulance arrives to give a young man medical treatment for a bloody mouth. When he leaves the ambulance he tries to jump the queue, but is asked by the community warden to go to the end. He tries to get into a taxi again; this time police move him on. In the second incident, police sirens speed down Mitchell Street just one block away from where the van is sitting. A group of three men is being spoken to by police officers. One is handcuffed and struggles, resulting in him headbutting an officer. He�s then taken by the legs and arms and put into the back of a police van. As 4.30am approaches, the taxi queue begins to dwindle as a steady stream of vehicles comes to take revellers home. �It�s been relatively quiet,� says one police officer. �Everyone seems to be full of good humour, which makes a nice change.�

[ sundayherald.com

16 Dezember 2005

vier männer ,die nach dem 11.9.2001 erst 4 jahre im knast waren ,seit 2005 unter hausarrest sind und die angeblich terroristen sind, haben jetzt in interviews mit amnesty gesagt , daß sie nie verhört wurden, weder von der polizei noch vom geheimdienst. die inhaftierung der männer wurde im letzten jahr von den richtern des höchsten gerichtes aufgehoben, da diese illegal gewesen sei. unter strengen auflagen wurden die männer entlassen. im august wurden sie erneut verhaftet, diesmal wegen bevorstehender / geplanter abschiebung. im oktober wurden sie mit noch strengeren auflagen wieder entlassen.

Enemies of the state? Police fail even to question men held as a terror threat

Four men deprived of their liberty for four years on suspicion of being international terrorists disclose today that they have not once been questioned by police or security services since being arrested. The four, who were among 16 suspects detained without trial under post-11 September terror legislation, later overturned by the law lords, give harrowing accounts of the treatment they have suffered. All are now under virtual house arrest. Although three face deportation, The Independent has learnt that there is no prospect of the men ever being questioned over the offences they are alleged to have committed. In interviews with Amnesty International, the four - three Algerians and a Palestinian - say their detentions have harmed their physical and mental health. They also complain that their treatment has had a devastating impact on their wives and families.

The men were interned in Belmarsh jail in south-east London - which has been called Britain's Guantanamo Bay - and other high security prisons in conditions consistently condemned by human rights organisations. Their detentions were ruled illegal by the law lords a year ago and they have since been released on control orders with tough restrictions on leaving home.

"But what struck me most was the impact that the detention and subsequent house arrest of these men has had on their partners and their families. Abu Rideh's house doesn't feel like the kind of bustling home you would expect of a family with five children. It is silent, sad and isolated. Friends and family are scared to visit - to do so they have to submit their name and photo to the Home Office, and in effect become a "known associate of a terrorist suspect". The men were interned in Belmarsh jail in south-east London - which has been called Britain's Guantanamo Bay - and other high security prisons in conditions consistently condemned by human rights organisations. Their detentions were ruled illegal by the law lords a year ago and they have since been released on control orders with tough restrictions on leaving home.

Three were re-arrested in August under immigration powers pending deportation and released by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act (Siac) in October on very strict bail conditions amounting to house arrest. One of them told Amnesty: "We've been moving from one nightmare to another." The disclosure that the men have not been interviewed by the authorities will embarrass ministers, who have claimed that the men present such a terrorist threat that they have to be permanently monitored. In a report today on the plight of the so-called Belmarsh detainees, Amnesty calls for charges to be brought against them or for the restrictions on their freedom to be lifted. A spokesman said: "Is this really what we call justice in this country? These men have had their liberty taken from them for four years yet they haven't even been charged and tried, let alone found guilty of anything. What's really shocking is that these men, supposedly 'suspected international terrorists', have never once been questioned since their arrest." The four - Abu Rideh and the Algerians, known as "A", "G" and "H" - were interviewed by Amnesty. All complained of mental health problems including depression and said that their transfer from jail to house arrest had prolonged their ordeals.

"A" said: "I am basically locked up at home for 24 hours a day ... the pressure of this situation is enormous on my family." "G" complains: "Although I have access to my garden (albeit for a limited portion of the day) I fear that if I reply to any one of my neighbours saying 'hello' to me I will be in breach of my bail conditions. So, I don't even go out in the garden. Every night I fear that the police will come and arrest me again. I feel like I have lost all access to a normal life." Abu Rideh, who has made at least four suicide attempts, says: "I can't sleep. I spend all my time in the house. I don't go outside much; I'm just not up to it."

A Home Office spokesman said last night: "Obviously bail conditions are set by Siac that are considered necessary to address the risk of absconding and to protect national security." The spokesman did not deny that the detainees had never been questioned by police over the past four years. He said: "We never discuss individual cases." However, one security source said: "We believe these men are dangerous, but they cannot be prosecuted. Under those circumstances there's little point interviewing them." But Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "The fact that no questioning has taken place since arrest suggests that little effort has been made to explore the possibility of criminal charges. If that is the case it is completely unacceptable ... These men have been left in a legal limbo which is contrary to every tradition of justice in this country. Indefinite detention has taken an appalling toll on their mental health, just as it has with the Guantanamo Bay prisoners."

Amnesty is calling for immediate action: "If there is evidence against them, they should be charged with a recognisably criminal offence and tried in a British court," said Ms Allen. "Both expressed a wish for fair treatment, not special treatment - that the authorities should show them whatever evidence has condemned them to this limbo, and give them a chance to refute it in court. All they want is justice."

[ independent.co.uk

8. Dezember 2005

das oberste gericht erklärte das geständnisse (und die daraus resultierenden beweise ) die durch folter erzwungen wurden vor britischen gerichten nicht anerkannt werden.

British Court Rules Against Evidence Gained in Torture

LONDON, Dec. 8 - Thrusting itself into the middle of a stormy international debate, Britain's highest court declared today that evidence obtained through torture - no matter who had done the torturing - was not admissible in British courts. It also said that Britain had a "positive obligation" to uphold anti-torture principles abroad as well as at home.

"The issue is one of constitutional principle, whether evidence obtained by torturing another human being may lawfully be admitted against a party to proceedings in a British court, irrespective of where, or by whom, or on whose authority the torture was inflected," said Lord Bingham, writing the lead opinion for the Law Lords, roughly equivalent to the United States Supreme Court. "To that question I would give a very clear negative answer." The ruling dealt specifically with the case of 10 men who were detained and held without charge in Britain on suspicion of being terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. But while the question at hand applied only to English law, several of the lords explicitly referred - not at all flatteringly - to the standards of evidence applied in the United States in the fight against terror. Speaking of English national pride in its common-law rejection centuries ago of torture as a means to an end, Lord Hoffman brought his argument forward to the current era.

"In our own century," he wrote, "many people in the United States, heirs to that common-law tradition, have felt their country dishonored by its use of torture outside the jurisdiction and its practice of extra-legal 'rendition' of suspects to countries where they would be tortured." Human-rights groups applauded the ruling as a landmark decision that set out a civilized blueprint for how the courts of England should conduct themselves in terror cases. "The Law Lords' ruling has overturned the tacit belief that torture can be condoned under certain circumstances," Amnesty International said in a statement. "This ruling shred any vestige of legality with which the U.K. government had attempted to defend a completely unlawful and reprehensible policy, introduced as part of its counter-terrorism measures."

It was unclear today what practical effect the ruling would have. Human-rights groups who had brought the case said that it would force the government to do three things: re-evaluate any pending or future terrorism cases to determine explicitly that evidence had not been extracted by torture; stop seeking to deport terror suspects to countries where they might be tortured; and investigate the possible the use of British airspace and airports by the United States in transporting terror suspects to countries where torture may be used. But in a statement, the British home secretary, Charles Clarke, said that the ruling would have no substantive effect on the 10 terror suspects whose cases were at issue. Nor, he said, would the lords' judgment have any bearing on the government's anti-terrorism policies.

"The government has always made it clear that we do not condone torture in any way, nor would we carry out this completely unacceptable behavior or encourage others to do so," Mr. Clarke said. The 10 men are known informally as the Belmarsh detainees, after the prison where many of them were held. Last year, a lower court ruled that evidence against them that may have been obtained under torture in other countries was usable in English courts and that the government had no obligation to ask how the evidence had been gathered. In strong language that referred to centuries of English law and also to the moral weight of international treaties and obligations, a seven-member panel of the Law Lords struck down that decision.

"The principles of the common law, standing alone, in my opinion compel the exclusion of third party torture evidence as unreliable, unfair, offensive to ordinary standards of humanity and decency and incompatible with the principles which should animate a tribunal seeking to administer justice," Lord Bingham wrote.

[ nytimes.com

20 November 2005

weil befürchtet wird das es im knast maghaberry / belfast zu auseinandersetzungen zwischen uda-gefangenen ( ulster defence association ? eine protestantische paramilitärische gruppe) kommen könnte, wurde dort riotpolizei stationiert.

RIOT squad ready for UDA prison violence

A SPECIAL prison riot squad is on standby at Maghaberry Prison over fears that violence will erupt between UDA prisoners.

Governors are concerned that tensions between Andre Shoukri's north Belfast brigade and brigades from the east and south of the city could spill over into jail violence. Sources connected to the UDA insist there is "no major problem". But it is understood that remarks by south Belfast UDA boss Jackie McDonald on last week's UTV Insight programme angered Shoukri's supporters.

In the 'Slow Surrender' programme, McDonald was asked how the UDA would deal with other 'Jim Grays' in the organisation - a reference to the murdered east Belfast 'bling brigadier', who ran a money-spinning criminal empire. He replied that it was for the Chief Constable to deal with such people. UDA elements in north Belfast interpreted this as a direct reference to Shoukri, currently on remand on blackmail and money laundering charges. "It was certainly commented upon during brigade meetings, but there is no major problem at the moment between us and south Belfast," said a north Belfast UDA source.

McDonald and Shoukri denied they were at loggerheads in an exclusive Sunday Life interview earlier this year. But within weeks, the pair and their supporters were involved in a stand-off in the Sandy Row area of the city. Shoukri's prosecution on a string of charges has caused resentment among his supporters. The 28-year-old is being held on remand with former Irish League footballer John 'Bonzer' Borland, believed by police to be his second in command. A Prison Service spokesman said yesterday that the prison situation was constantly monitored and there had been no "incidents" involving loyalists. But prison officers say two internal response units are on stand-by to deal with any violent incident that might develop between north and south Belfast UDA prisoners.

[ sundaylife.co.uk

6. November 2005

fast jede dritte frau ist in schottland wegen ladendiebstahl verurteilt. 2004-05 wurden insgesamt 714 frauen zu knaststrafen verurteilt, 213 davon wegen ladendiebstahl und 68 wegen ? gewalttaten?. Von den 9. 585 verurteilten männer sind 12% ( 1.154) wegen ladendiebstahl im knast.

Almost one in three of Scotland's female prisoners in jail for shoplifting

ALMOST a third of Scotland's female prisoners are jailed for shoplifting, while fewer than one in 10 committed crimes of violence.

The figures, obtained by this newspaper, have prompted an admission by the Scottish Executive that its eight-year attempt to cut numbers at suicide-hit Cornton Vale prison has failed. When the Labour party swept to power in 1997, the then Scottish Office acknowledged that too many women were being jailed and it was a factor in the spate of suicides to hit the overcrowded Cornton Vale. When Labour came into office, the average daily prison population was 186, and by the time the Executive took control of Scottish affairs, it had risen to 210. It now stands at more than 330.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal that in 2004-05, of the 714 women sent to jail, 213 were convicted of shoplifting while just 68 were guilty of crimes of violence. A senior spokesman for the justice minister, Cathy Jamieson, acknowledged that "the huge increase" in the female prison population outstripped the general increase. He added: "We haven't managed to make the impact we intended over a number of years. It's a source of continuing concern to the minister."

Of 9,585 men jailed by the courts in 2004-05, 1,154 were imprisoned for shoplifting - a massive figure, but just 12% compared with the staggering total of 30% for all women jailed. The shoplifting figures are concealed in the Executive statistics and have been lumped under a general heading of "other crimes of dishonesty", but statisticians agreed to extract the data in response to our request. It is almost universally agreed that the vast majority of women jailed in Scotland should not be in prison. Justice ministers from Henry McLeish onwards have commented on the issue and expressed a desire to alter the situation, but each in turn has failed.

Jamieson's spokesman said ministers could not tell judges and sheriffs what to do. He added: "We need to make sure there are robust alternatives to custody in place and encourage the judiciary to make use of them. There are signs that confidence in these alternatives is growing and we expect to see them have the desired impact over the next few years." A report published recently by Dr Andrew McLellan, chief inspector of prisons, found that 98% of women at Cornton Vale, Scotland's only all-female prison, had problems with drug addiction. Some 80% had mental health problems and 75% had been victims of abuse. Kay Gilchrist, the chaplain at the jail, said: "One issue that I don't think is widely acknowledged is that the vast majority of the women in the jail have been sexually abused as children. "There is a classic pattern of abuse, or at least neglect, then a tendency to use alcohol and drugs from a young age to blot out the misery of their childhood. Then there is a dependency on the substances, and that leads them into crime.

"I always feel that if they had the support they needed from counsellors and mental health workers they would not be where they are. "I do believe everybody has a choice, so I'm not absolving prisoners of responsibility for their actions, but choices are not always easy to make if you don't have the right support network around you." She said that many women had cracked under the strain of a dire family life. "I saw a young woman in here this week who hadn't taken drugs until she was 22. Her youth had been spent nursing her mother through breast cancer, caring for a little sister, and then she became pregnant and had a stillbirth." Kenny McAskill, the SNP justice spokesman, said: "There's very little debate on this issue. Most of the women in Cornton Vale need pity rather than punishment. "You could probably let them all out over the weekend and Scotland would not be any less safe than it was when they were locked up."

[ scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com

24.October 2005

neue befugnisse der schottischen polizei gegen sexualstraftäter. Danach kann die polizei zukünftig richterliche anordnung für durchsuchungen auch ohne das eine straftat vorliegt beantragen, wenn sie den verdacht hat das der mensch nicht kooperiert und sich der überwachung entziehen will. Auch meldeauflagen und dna untersuchungen werden zur pflicht. Die polizei kann vermieterinnen, arbeitgeberinnen u.a. auskünfte über den menschen geben.

Scottish Police get new powers to target sex offenders

Key points
-Police able to raid homes of sex offenders under new powers
-Police can also reveal identity of sex offenders who avoid surveillance
-Executive plans fall short of identifying sex offenders to community

SEX offenders who fail to co-operate with police face having their homes raided and searched under tough new powers announced by the Scottish Executive yesterday.

Officers will be able to seek court orders allowing them entry to the homes of paedophiles and rapists deemed to be avoiding police surveillance even if they are not suspected of committing any new crimes. Human rights experts said they were concerned about the measure, one of a series of proposals announced by Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister. They include a new warning system which would see information about sex offenders being passed on to third parties such as landlords, employers and leisure centre bosses if they fail to act on concerns raised about their behaviour.

Yesterday's announcement followed a review of the management of sex offenders by Professor George Irving, ordered after the murder of Glasgow schoolboy Mark Cummings at the hands of convicted paedophile Stuart Leggate.

Prof Irving's report, published yesterday, made 36 recommendations. Ms Jamieson said the vast majority would be fully implemented.

The Scotsman revealed in the summer that police had called for the power of forced entry and last night senior officers said they welcomed the move.

Deputy Chief Constable Bob Ovens, who is Scotland's most senior officer responsible for child protection and sex offenders, said: "We are pleased that there has been some progress on that front. We hope that offenders will co-operate with us and we won't have to force entry, but it's important that we have that power. "If offenders are required to register, they should be required to work with us rather than simply slam the door in our face." The new police warning system will give offenders three chances to curtail concerning behaviour, for example holding a swimming club membership. If an offender rejects the final warning it will result in the partial disclosure of his or her details to interested parties on a confidential, case-by-case basis. The plans fall short of a so-called "Mark's Law" - which would allow full disclosure to the public when sex offenders move into their area.

Margaret Ann Cummings, Mark's mother, who has led the campaign for the introduction of Mark's Law, said many of the measures were a major step forward. But she criticised the warning system. She said: "Information will only be divulged to certain people who will then be faced with a dilemma. If a sex offender then does strike, that may leave the person with a feeling of guilt and you can't always tell where a sex offender is going to strike next." Annabel Goldie, the home affairs spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, also said partial disclosure would not work.

"Information is either released or it isn't, and if it is released in ultra-sensitive circumstances, then there is a very strong chance of vigilante action," she said. Prof Irving, who said he was not in favour of blanket disclosure, said he hoped the new measures would prevent tragedies such as the Mark Cummings case, adding: "I hope, while never entirely preventable, similar incidents may be a little more avoidable as a result of these proposals. "This I suggest we owe to Mark Cummings and other young victims who have gone before and tragically since."

But Ms Jamieson said that while sexual offences were "sickening and horrific crimes" which required serious offenders to be sent to prison "for a very long time", society had to look beyond punishment to rehabilitation. She added: "I am aware of the heartfelt pleas from communities, not least those campaigning after Mark Cummings' murder for there to be fuller disclosure of information to local people when a sex offender is living in their midst

"Previous expert groups have looked at this and concluded that such a move might hinder and not help the authorities to keep offenders in their sights." Ms Jamieson also announced that convicted sex offenders will be forced to inform police of their passport, bank and credit card details to help officers monitor their behaviour. The requirement could allow police, for example, to zero-in on convicted paedophiles if they attempt to purchase child pornography on the internet. But the Executive refused to immediately implement another key recommendation, that sex offenders be forced to attend risk assessment interviews.

The absence of a duty on the part of offenders to co-operate with risk assessment procedures was identified by Prof Irving in his report as "a major weakness" and is the area of the management of sex offenders that police would like to see tightened up most. While making it clear she supported the move in principle, Ms Jamieson has passed the issue to the new Risk Management Authority to consider how it can be implemented.

Following the murder of schoolboy Rory Blackhall, in August, Ms Jamieson also announced �150,000 to speed up the addition of intelligence to the national register of violent and sexual offenders, known as VISOR. Simon Harris, whom police believe committed suicide after killing Rory, was on bail pending trial for sex abuse charges against young children when the 11-year-old from Livingston, in West Lothian, was murdered. However, human rights campaigners believe that many of the new moves are excessive. John Scott, the head of the Scottish Human Rights Centre, said: "Every power needs to be justified and the police already have powers to obtain a warrant and enter a sex offender's home if they believe a crime has been committed. I'm also very concerned about the supposed 'limited' disclosure of information on sex offenders to members of the public."I don't think you can have partial disclosure - once information is passed to a third party, it invariably reaches the wider public.

"That raises the possibility of vigilante action. Most people behave responsibly, but a sufficient minority have in the past killed sex offenders and hounded others out of the area, driving them underground." However, Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's justice spokesman, said the measures were long overdue. "It is important that sex offenders are appropriately assessed, monitored and reviewed as, although there are only a small minority of people who offend in this way, they are a very dangerous group who pose a threat to vulnerable members of the community," he said.

The action plan

-Convicted sex offenders will have to notify the authorities of their passport, bank and credit card details.
-Police will be given the power to obtain a court order enabling officers to enter and search the home of a sex offender for the purposes of risk assessment.
-Officers to be allowed to take DNA samples from convicted offenders.
-Selected third parties will be informed of the presence of a sex offender if official warnings are ignored.
-Further investment will be made in the VISOR - the police database of violent criminals and suspected offenders.

[ scotsman.com

21. October 2005

UNITED KINGDOM

in den letzten 12 jahren wurden 30 menschen von polizisten erschossen. Angeklagt oder verurteilt wurde keiner.

Shot dead by police 30. Officers convicted 0
No charges for policemen who killed man carrying table leg

The Attorney General was accused of bowing to political pressure last night after it emerged that no police officer will be prosecuted for shooting dead a man armed with a wooden table leg. The killing of Harry Stanley, a painter and decorator from east London, raises concern about whether the criminal justice system is capable of holding police officers to account for shooting dead members of the public. In the past 12 years no police officer has been successfully prosecuted for any of the 30 fatalities caused by police marksmen.

Concern over police officers' accountability for their use of firearms has been heightened by the controversy surrounding the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Underground station in London on 22 July. The Brazilian was shot dead after marksmen wrongly suspected he was a suicide bomber.

Last night, human rights campaigners accused the Crown Prosecution Service of giving the police immunity in gun death cases, while Mr Stanley's widow said she was "devastated" at the outcome of the inquiry. The Justice for Harry Stanley campaign said: "The CPS and the Attorney General have illustrated very clearly that the police not only have the right to shoot to kill, but they will be afforded total immunity from prosecution. This is clearly the most serious attack not just on the Stanley family but a warning to all the other families whose loved ones are shot dead, while going about their everyday business." Lawyers for the family and the group Inquest said they suspected the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, may have influenced the decision not to bring charges against any officers.

Daniel Machover, who represents Mr Stanley's widow, Irene, said he had " genuine concern that Lord

Goldsmith's input may have influenced or determined the final decision". He added: "What we know is that there was dialogue between the DPP and the Attorney General and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing before the family and police were told of the decision." Deborah Coles, a co-director of Inquest, said: "You must ask whether or not there is a political policy at play in these cases and whether there was a political context in which this particular decision was made."

Last night, the Attorney General denied there was any political interference in the decision. A spokesperson for the Attorney General said: "The decision not to prosecute was taken by an experienced Crown Prosecution Service lawyer on the advice of leading counsel and was reviewed and approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Attorney General was consulted and agreed with the CPS decision. It is absolutely wrong and misleading to suggest that there was any political influence. It is standard practice for the DPP to consult the Attorney in high-profile or complex cases."

The death of Mr Stanley, 46, from Hackney, east London, has become one of the most controversial police shootings of modern times. The unarmed father-of-three was shot in the head and hand on a London street in September 1999 while walking home after a table leg he had in a bag was mistaken for a gun. Chief Inspector Neil Sharman, 42, and PC Kevin Fagan, 38, firearms officers with the Metropolitan Police, were arrested in June this year on suspicion of murder, gross negligence, manslaughter and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and bailed in connection with the case. The arrests followed new forensic evidence that contradicted the officers' accounts of the shooting and indicated that Mr Stanley was shot while facing away from the marksmen. The two officers told an inquest in 2004 that Mr Stanley had turned around "in a slow, deliberate, fluid motion" and pointed his wrapped-up table leg at PC Fagan, adopting a classic firing posture. This prompted Ch Insp Sharman to open fire, hitting Mr Stanley in the head.

A forensic scientist found that Mr Stanley had been shot in the rear side of his head - which indicated that he was not facing the officers at the point of impact. A bullet hole had also gone through the back of Mr Stanley's jacket, through the shoulder, suggesting he had his back turned on the officers. Mr Stanley was shot dead after someone telephoned the police and told them they had seen an Irishman with a sawn-off shotgun in a bag. Mr Stanley, who was originally from Lanarkshire, Scotland, was carrying a blue plastic bag with a coffee-table leg inside, which had been repaired by his brother.

The inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing, which was overturned in the High Court. The CPS, however, decided yesterday that there was "insufficient evidence" to bring any charges against the officers. Two specialists, one hired by the Police Federation, the other by Surrey Police, the investigating force, said the forensic evidence did not prove that the officers were lying.

In a statement issued yesterday the CPS said there was not enough evidence to rebut the officers' accounts that they were acting in self-defence. The CPS did, however, say it was "arguable that the officers' haste and lack of planning led them to breach their duty of care to Mr Stanley and cause his death". After yesterday's decision not to bring charges, the dead man's widow promised to "keep fighting" for justice for her husband. Irene Stanley, who is consulting lawyers about a possible challenge to the CPS decision in the High Court and the European Court of Human Rights, said: " What happened today was an injustice. I am devastated by it, though I half expected it. I am going to keep fighting but can't say more until I receive legal advice. I am also disgusted that I first heard of the CPS decision at 7.30am because of a leak to a tabloid newspaper."

Ms Coles said public confidence in the criminal justice system would be severely undermined. She said it now appeared that British justice " puts police officers above the law". She added: "At a time when there is a massive increase of the number of armed police on our streets, it is imperative that the public have confidence in their ability to act professionally and safely."

The 30 victims

JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES, 27
Shot dead by police on 22 July 2005 after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.
PROSECUTIONS: Officers suspended until the investigation result is published.

PHILIP PROUT, 53
Shot by a police marksman after a baton gun failed to fire, in Cornwall in May 2004.
PROSECUTIONS: The CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to charge the officers.

DEREK BENNETT, 29
In July 2001, police shot him four times in the back in Brixton, south London. He had been holding a gun-shaped cigarette lighter to a man's head.
PROSECUTIONS: CPS found insufficient evidence to prosecute.

JAMES ASHLEY, 39
Shot during a police drugs raid on his house in Sussex in 1998. Ashley was unarmed, naked and with his girlfriend.
PROSECUTIONS: Officer who fired the shot found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

CRAIG KING, 32
Bouncer from Greater Manchester was shot by police on 11 September this year.
PROSECUTIONS: No officers have been charged.

JOHN SCOTT, 42
Killed in Northumberland in July after he fired a gun as police broke up a disturbance.
PROSECUTIONS: None

AZELLE RODNEY, 24
Shot in Edgware in April after bullets were fired into car of suspected drug dealers.
PROSECUTIONS: None

SIMON MURDEN, 26
Killed in Hull in March after brandishing a sword.
PROSECUTIONS: None

KEITH LARKINS, 33
Former mental patient shot in June at Heathrow after brandishing a blank pistol at police.
PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID EWIN, 38
Former robber killed in London in March 1995 in a stolen car.
PROSECUTIONS: Officer tried and cleared of murder.

NICHOLAS PALMER, 23
Shot by police in south London in 2004. Failed to answer bail after arrest on arms offences.
PROSECUTIONS: None

COLIN O'CONNOR, 39
Thief shot in 2003 in Bedfordshire after being caught with a pistol in a stolen Jaguar.
PROSECUTION: None

FOSTA THOMPSON, 20
Jamaican shot in Bristol after defying police in 2002.
PROSECUTION: None

JASON GIFFORD, 27
Shot in 2002 in Aylesbury after he confronted officers with a sword and shotgun
PROSECUTION: None

MICHAEL MALSBURY, 62
shot in 2001 running out of his house in Harrow firing at police.
PROSECUTION: None

STEVEN DICKSON, 30
Shot in 2001 waving a home-made shotgun in Derbyshire.
PROSECUTION: None

ANDREW KERNAN, 37
Schizophrenic with sword shot in Liverpool in 2001.
PROSECUTION: None

PATRICK O'DONNELL, 19
Killed in 2000 after taking his mother and girlfriend hostage in north London.
PROSECUTION: None

KIRK DAVIES, 30
Former soldier was shot in West Yorkshire in September 2000 after he threatened an officer with an air rifle.
PROSECUTION: None

HARRY STANLEY, 46
Shot by police in 1999.
PROSECUTION: None

DEREK BATEMAN, 47
Shot in Surrey in 1999 after girlfriend told officers he was armed and was threatening to shoot her, or himself.
PROSECUTION: None

ANTONY KITTS, 20
Shot in Falmouth in 1999, threatening police with an air rifle thought to be a shotgun.
PROSECUTIONS: None

MICHAEL FITZGERALD, 32
Shot in Bedford in 1998 aiming a replica Colt 45 at police.
PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID HOWELL, 41
Psychiatric patient shot in 1996 at a Co-op supermarket.
PROSECUTIONS: None

DIARMUID O'NEILL, 27
Unarmed IRA suspect shot in raid in west London.
PROSECUTIONS: None

JAMES BRADY, 21
Shot in 1995 in police ambush at village near Newcastle.
PROSECUTIONS: None

ROBERT DIXON, 45
Wild West fan fired at police, but gun may have been replica.
PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID STONE, 35
Killed in 1993, carrying pistol in north London.
PROSECUTIONS: None

IAN HAY, 39
Mentally ill farmer shot in Devon in 1993 after police tried to investigate gunshot reports.
PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID LUCKHURST, 46
Publican in Hertfordshire shot in 1993 after he fired rifle at officers in siege at home.
PROSECUTIONS: None

[ independent.co.uk

14. October 2005

ein ungenannter mann aus zimbawne hat einen prozeß gegen seine abschiebung gewonnen. Das asylum and immigration tribunal entschied, das eine rückkehr nach zimbawne für den mann zu gefährlich ist. Auch die tatsache das sein asylantrag "betrügerisch" gewesen sei und seine aussagen gegenüber den behörden " absichtlich unehrlich" gewesen seien, spiele da keine rolle. Allein die tatsache das er in den uk gelebt hat würde ihn in dem land in gefahr bringen.

" die tatsache das der antragsteller falsche angaben machte und so die gefahr erst erzeugte, die ansonsten nicht da gewesen wäre, ändert nicht die tatsache das die reale bedrohung eines gravierenden schadens besteht." Eine sprecherin des innenministeriums sagte : " wir glauben nicht das dieses urteil uns verpflichtet allen abgelehnten asylbewerberinnen aus zimbawne asylstatus oder eine andere form der aufenthaltsberechtigung, gesetzlich zu gewähren." Das gericht hätte nicht befunden das zimbawne für abgelehnte asylbewerberinnen, oder solche die "freiwillig" zurück gingen, generell gefährlich sei. Das innenministerium überlegt dieses urteil anzufechten.

Zimbabwean wins asylum test case

A Zimbabwean has won his battle against deportation in a test case ruling that puts in doubt the policy of returning failed asylum seekers to the country.

The unnamed man would be at risk of harm if he were sent back, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal has ruled. The Home Office said it did not believe the judgement meant it now "as a matter of law" had to allow other Zimbabwean failed asylum seekers to remain. Shadow home secretary David Davis said the ruling was "absolutely" right. Tribunal chairman Mark Ockelton said the man, known only as 'AA', had a "well-founded fear of persecution" if he was returned, even though his asylum claim had been "fraudulent" and his dealings with UK authorities "deliberately dishonest".

The very fact that he had spent time in the UK would put him at risk in his home country, he said. "The fact that the appellant made a false claim, so generating the risk which would otherwise not have existed, does not alter the fact that the real risk of serious harm exists now," the ruling said.

'Not unsafe'

Following the ruling, a Home Office spokeswoman said: "We do not believe that this judgement requires us, as a matter of law, to grant refugee status or any other form of leave to remain to failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers."

The tribunal had not found that Zimbabwe was unsafe generally for failed asylum seekers, or for those who returned voluntarily, she said. "The tribunal found only that the particular way we were enforcing returns of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers from the UK to Harare airport put them at risk," the spokeswoman said. "We will not be enforcing returns to Zimbabwe whilst we work to resolve the concerns identified by the tribunal about the way we do so."

The Home Office would continue to expect Zimbabwean failed asylum seekers to be returned once those concerns were resolved, she said. "We will continue to provide protection through the asylum system to Zimbabweans who genuinely have a well-founded fear of persecution. "But failed asylum seekers whose claims have been found on appeal to be false are not in this position." The Home Office was also considering appealing the judgement, she said.

'Lack of interest'

Mr Ockelton said the tribunal could have taken a different view if failed asylum seekers returning to Zimbabwe were not so readily identified by UK officials. Evidence from the home secretary suggested deportees were escorted onto planes and their papers handed over by UK officials to the air crew.

"We find the respondent's [the home secretary] lack of interest in the process by which individuals that he returns to Zimbabwe are received by the Zimbabwean authorities rather alarming," Mr Ockelton said. Immigration minister Tony McNulty earlier said the ruling put the government's whole asylum policy in question. "The absolute sanctity of the 1951 convention at the root of the asylum system is that each and every individual case is decided on its own terms within its own circumstances," he said. "This judgement drives an entire coach and horses through that and leaves the entire system open to abuse."

An Amnesty International spokeswoman said it hoped the Home Office would "recognise today's judgement when making future decisions about the claims of Zimbabwean asylum seekers". Tim Finch, from the Refugee Council, welcomed the ruling and said the judge could not have made his decision clearer. "Coming to Britain and claiming sanctuary here is regarded as treason by the Mugabe regime," he added. Shadow home secretary David Davis said the decision was made necessary by the "abject failure" of the government's policy on Zimbabwe.

Hunger strikes

The test case ruling was also welcomed by fellow Zimbabwean Timbah Mghubeli, who sought asylum in Britain in 2001 after his work for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change led him to clash with the ruling Zanu-PF party.

He told BBC Radio Five Live the threat of being returned to Zimbabwe had led him to go on hunger strike. "At one time I was in detention, I thought of starving myself to death because I knew even if I were to go to there, I will die.

"I'd rather go as a corpse because there's no-one who can persecute a corpse, can torture a corpse." The tribunal also criticised the Home Office's research into conditions in Zimbabwe and for the lack of evidence uncovered by a fact-finding delegation sent by the government in September. A ban on deportations to Zimbabwe, which had been in force for two years, was lifted last November. Zimbabwean asylum seekers staged hunger strikes and public protests at immigration centres earlier this year. Some 12,000 people from Zimbabwe claimed asylum in the UK between 2002 and 2004.

[ news.bbc.co.uk

15. October 2005

in einem artikel über den streit zwischen der regierung und der opposition über die benutzung eines seit august geschlossenen knastschiffes , steht, das am 14,. Oktober 77.702 menschen in den knästen waren.

Row over empty former prison ship

The Conservative shadow prisons minister has criticised the government for allowing a prison ship to lie empty amid concerns over overcrowded jails.

Cheryl Gillan said the redundant role of HMP Weare, at Portland, Dorset, was a "shocking indictment of the government's failing prison policy". The Home Office confirmed there were no plans to re-open the prison, which can hold 400 inmates. But it added the centre and the rest of the prison estate were under review. 'Beggars belief'

HMP Weare was closed in August after the temporary facility was judged to require too much investment to remain in service beyond next year.

Mrs Gillan said: "It beggars belief the government is considering releasing prisoners before they have served their sentence when this facility is available." The prison population on Friday, 14 October, was 77,702 and the current capacity is 78,149 which will increase to 79,100 by June 2006, a Home Office spokeswoman said.

She added: "The prison population is carefully monitored to ensure that the estate is operating as effectively and efficiently as possible."There is more accommodation coming on line in the next couple of weeks and beyond that the situation is under constant review. "We have no current plans to re-open HMP Weare." The final prisoners were taken off HMP Weare on 12 August this year after it was condemned as "merely an expensive container - and in the wrong place" by Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers.

[ bbc.co.uk

10. October 2005

um gegen zukünftige riots vorgehen zu können, arbeiten britische wissenschaftler an einer "neuen generation" von "nicht-tödlichen- waffen". z.b. soll die firma qinetiq, eine fürs miltär arbeitende firma ,eine ähnliche waffe bauen wie die "blend"-laser die die usa im iraq benutzen. Auch ein "schaum" wird getestet, der größere gruppen von menschen bewegungsunfähig machen soll.

New riot weapons designed to be 'non-lethal'

British scientists are working on a new generation of microwave, laser and chemical guns that could be used to quell riots.

One highly classified project is to develop a "vortex gun", for use in riots, which fires a powerful, doughnut-shaped pulse of air at supersonic speed. Scientific Applications & Research Associates, a United States company that has made such a weapon, said it could fire waves that knock crowds of people off-balance. The research could also put lasers and microwave weapons on missiles and planes to "kill" an enemy's own weapons, although these could be banned under international law.

British defence company Qinetiq is understood to be investigating lasers that "dazzle" the enemy, a technique the US military is said to be using against insurgents in Iraq. British defence laboratories are also understood to have tested crowd-control foams that immobilise. These weapons are part of a taxpayer-funded secret programme of research into "non-lethal weapons". Many of these techniques could be controversial, particularly the lasers. Britain was forced to abandon weapons that dazzle pilots, a technique allegedly used during the Falklands War, because it contravened rules outlawing devices which permanently disable combatants or cause someone to crash a plane.

[ nzherald.co.nz

8. October 2005

eine seit 6 wochen bestehende spezialeinheit ,deren aufgabe das sammeln und auswerten von informationen ist, beginnt in einigen städten mit dem ausfragen an schulen. Angeblich will mensch damit "terroristische aktivitäten" früh erkennen und verhindern.

Intelligence gathering to take place in Scottish classrooms

SPECIAL Branch detectives are to go into Scottish schools as part of a major intelligence-gathering exercise to combat the terrorist threat from al-Qaeda. Detectives will speak to senior pupils and teachers to pick up on any signs that extremists could be plotting attacks similar to the London bombings in July which killed 56 people. A pilot scheme has been set up in Tayside which will see Special Branch establish contact with secondary schools by the end of this year.

A range of measures to improve the flow of intelligence on potential terrorist threats are being developed by all Scottish police forces. Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine said a Special Branch community contact unit had been set up to "reach out" to communities and identify any suspicious behaviour which could eventually help detectives uncover a terror cell operating in Scotland. Mr Vine said officers from the unit will begin speaking to senior pupils and teachers in secondary schools in Angus later this year. Talks are under way between police and education authorities about similar schemes in Dundee, and Perth and Kinross.

The unit was set up six weeks ago and has already increased the flow of intelligence, Mr Vine added. "We will be raising awareness about potential terrorist activity and strange behaviour that might lead to terrorist activity. We want young people to tell us if they are aware of anything suspicious happening in their communities," he said.

Mr Vine added he hoped the operation would be able to identify any signs that young people themselves may be receiving extremist Islamic teachings. "What we have to change is the mindset which questions whether it is appropriate to gather intelligence in schools. But if you are going to find out what young people are thinking - remember these bombers (in London) were only in their late teens and early 20s - you have to do something."

The Special Branch unit has already established contact with Islamic groups at universities. Mr Vine, who is from Yorkshire, yesterday told a symposium on policing Scotland in the 21st century, hosted by Dundee University, that he was "shocked" when he heard the tape of one of the 7 July bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, and discovered they shared the same accent. "The new reality is we have to accept we may become a target here in Scotland and we may have home grown terrorists here in our midst," he said. But Ronnie Smith, general secretary of the EIS, said he was concerned at the plan for detectives to enter schools.

He said: "I think many people would think it was unnecessary to have police in schools for intelligence-gathering purposes. If there was some sort of presumption that there was an enemy in our midst that we were trying to weed out then I would be concerned. "Youngsters need to be aware of the issue of terrorism, including the causes, in a rounded educational way rather than purely from the perspective of the security services. Schools shouldn't be places where security service agencies plough their furrow." Human rights lawyer John Scott added said: "I'm not saying that under no circumstances should it be allowed, but we need to get more information about the thinking behind it because on the face of it, it doesn't seem too easy to understand."

[ scotsman.com

7. October 2005

in den beiden artikel geht es um ein urteil des europäischen gerichtshof nachdem die praxis der uk-regierung allen gefangenen das wahlrecht zu verweigern eine verletzung der menschenrechte ist. Der generalstaatsanwalt ,lord falconer, beharrt darauf das dies nicht bedeutet das alle 77.000 gefangene zukünftig wählen können und will jetzt richtlinien erlassen in welchen fällen das wahlrecht entzogen werden kann.

Prisoners to get vote after European court ruling

PRISONERS are to be given the vote after a European court yesterday ruled that the government's blanket ban on inmates taking part in elections was a violation of their human rights. The Department for Constitutional Affairs said proposals would be introduced to allow at least some prisoners to vote in national and local elections.

But Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, made it clear he did not want to see inmates convicted of murder, rape and other serious crimes given access to the ballot box. He said it was possible that certain categories of prisoner convicted of lesser offences would be given the vote. Lord Falconer said a review of the rules banning prisoners from voting in British elections would now be carried out.

The legal challenge was mounted by John Hirst while he was serving a life sentence in Rye Hill prison, Warwickshire, for manslaughter. After his application to vote from prison was turned down, Mr Hirst, 54, took his case to the High Court and lost. Then a seven-judge chamber of the European Court of Human Rights backed him and awarded him �8,000 in costs and expenses. The government appealed to a 17-judge Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg Court, but yesterday it also backed Mr Hirst.

Now released and living in Hull, Mr Hirst said his fight had been about breaking the link between crime and the right to take part in the democratic process. He said: "The human rights court has agreed with me that the government's position is wrong - it doesn't matter how heinous the crime, everyone is entitled to have the basic human right to vote." The Grand Chamber ruled by a 12-5 majority that the 1983 Representation of the People Act breached Mr Hirst's human rights.

Lord Falconer insisted the ruling did not mean all 77,000 prisoners in the UK would be allowed to vote. He said: "I can make it absolutely clear that in relation to convicted prisoners, the result of this is not that every convicted prisoner is in the future going to get the right to vote. We need to look and see whether there are any categories that should be given the right to vote." Colin Moses, the general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, said the ruling would make jails "political pressure points".

He added: "A lot of prisons are in marginal seats and 600 or 700 votes from prisoners could swing the result of an election one way or the other." Juliet Lyon, a director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "It's time to stop pretending that people in prison don't exist."

But the Conservative Party attacked the ruling. Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general, said: "The courts have ruled that prisoners, many of them dangerous, cannot be allowed to take part in normal society for the duration of their sentence. Why should they have a say in how that society is run?" A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said: "The court found that a blanket ban was unacceptable so it is not the case that all convicted prisoners will now get the right to vote. We are looking at different categories based on the gravity of their offence."

[ scotsman.com

Convicts 'will not all get vote'

A human rights court ruling against UK laws banning prisoners from elections does not mean all inmates will get the vote, the Lord Chancellor has said. It comes after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg said banning ex-inmate John Hirst from the polls had breached his right to free elections. Lord Falconer said British legislation would be reviewed and some categories of prisoner might be allowed to vote. But it would not be a "wholesale change" he told BBC News.

Fundamental right

Mr Hirst, now released after serving 24 years of a life sentence for the manslaughter of his landlady, welcomed the Strasbourg ruling.

He told the BBC: "The European convention allows everyone to vote. It does not say 'everyone, bar prisoners'. "It's always been the law. What we've had in this country is successive governments refusing to implement it. "It doesn't matter how heinous the crime, everyone is entitled to have the basic human right to vote." Mr Hirst first challenged the vote ban in the High Court but it rejected his claim that the Representation of the People Act 1983 was incompatible with the Human Rights Convention. But the Strasbourg court ruled by a majority vote of 12 to five judges in his favour. It said his rights had been violated under the Convention on Human Rights, to which Britain is a signatory, which guarantees the "right to free elections" under Protocol 1.

'Blunt instrument'

The judges said this applies equally to prisoners, describing the voting ban as a "blunt instrument" which affected a significant category of people in a discriminate way. Lord Falconer told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I can make it absolutely clear that in relation to convicted prisoners, the result of this is not that every convicted prisoner is in the future going to get the right to vote."

He said it was possible the review would lead to certain categories of prisoner, convicted of lesser offences, being allowed the vote. But he added: "This is not a wholesale change, this is simply the court saying `Consider carefully the basis of your law'. "It could well be that, having considered it, it is a proportionate conclusion that all people who are convicted and sent to prison cannot vote." Prison Reform Trust (PRT) director Juliet Lyon said: "Prisoners should be given every opportunity to pay back for what they have done, take responsibility for their lives and make plans for effective resettlement and this should include maintaining their right to vote." Shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve said: "Giving prisoners the vote would be ludicrous. "If convicted rapists and murderers are given the vote it will bring the law into disrepute and many people will see it as making a mockery of justice."

But the Liberal Democrats, who have supported the lifting of a ban on prisoners voting, welcomed the move. Home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "Today's ruling is not just about rights. "It is about ensuring that prisoners return to their communities as responsible citizens."

[ bbc.co.uk

4. October 2005

Protesters as Criminals

And hardly anyone is contesting the new clampdown

"We are trying to fight 21st-century crime - antisocial behaviour, drug-dealing, binge drinking, organised crime - with 19th-century methods as if we still lived in the time of Dickens". Tony Blair, 27th September 2005.(1) "Down poured the wine like oil on blazing fire. And still the riot went on - the debauchery gained its height - glasses were dashed upon the floor by hands that could not carry them to lips, oaths were shouted out by lips which could scarcely form the words to vent them in; drunken losers cursed and roared; some mounted on the tables, waving bottles above their heads and bidding defiance to the rest; some danced, some sang, some tore the cards and raved. Tumult and frenzy reigned supreme ...". Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens. 1839.(2)

All politicians who seek to justify repressive legislation claim that they are responding to an unprecedented threat to public order. And all politicians who cite such a threat draft measures in response which can just as easily be used against democratic protest. No act has been passed over the last 20 years with the aim of preventing anti-social behaviour, disorderly conduct, trespass, harrassment and terrorism which has not also been deployed to criminalise a peaceful public engagement in politics. When Walter Wolfgang was briefly detained by the police after heckling the foreign secretary last week, the public caught a glimpse of something that a few of us have been vainly banging on about for years.

On Friday, six students and graduates of Lancaster University were convicted of aggravated trespass. Their crime was to have entered a lecture theatre and handed out leaflets to the audience. Staff at the university were meeting people from BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, Shell, the Carlyle Group, GlaxoSmithKline, DuPont, Unilever and Diageo, to learn how to "commercialise university research".(3) The students were hoping to persuade the researchers not to sell their work. They stayed in the theatre for three minutes. As the judge conceded, they tried neither to intimidate anyone nor to stop the conference from proceeding.(4) They were prosecuted under the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, passed when Michael Howard was the Conservative home secretary. But the university was able to use it only because Labour amended the act in 2003, to ensure that it could be applied anywhere, rather than just "in the open air."(5)

Had Mr Wolfgang said "nonsense" twice during the foreign secretary's speech, the police could have charged him under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Harrassment, the act says, "must involve conduct on at least two occasions ... conduct includes speech."(5) Parliament was told that its purpose was to protect women from stalkers, but the first people to be arrested were three peaceful protesters.(6) Since then it has been used by the arms manufacturer EDO to keep demonstrators away from its factory gates,(7) and by Kent police to arrest a woman who sent an executive at a drugs company two polite emails, begging him not to test his products on animals.(8) In 2001 the peace campaigners Lindis Percy and Anni Rainbow were prosecuted for causing "harassment, alarm or distress" to American servicemen at the Menwith Hill military intelligence base in Yorkshire, by standing at the gate holding the stars and stripes and a placard reading "George W Bush? Oh dear!".(9) In Hull a protester was arrested under the act for "staring at a building".(10)

Had Mr Wolfgang said "nonsense" to one of the goons who dragged him out of the conference, he could have been charged under section 125 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, which came into force in August. Section 125 added a new definition of harassment to the 1997 act: "a course of conduct ... which involves harassment of two or more persons". What this means is that you need only address someone once to be considered to be harassing them, as long as you have also addressed someone else in the same manner. This provision, in other words, can be used to criminalise any protest anywhere. But when the bill passed through the Commons and the Lords, no member contested or even noticed it.

Section 125 hasn't yet been exercised, but section 132 of the act is already becoming an effective weapon against democracy. This bans people from demonstrating in an area "designated" by the government. One of these areas is the square kilometre around parliament. Since the act came into force, democracy campaigners have been holding a picnic in Parliament Square every Sunday afternoon (see http://www1.atwiki.com/picnic/). Seventeen people have been arrested so far.(11)

But the law which has proved most useful to the police is the one under which Mr Wolfgang was held: section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This allows them to stop and search people, without the need to show that they have "reasonable suspicion" that a criminal offence is being committed. They have used it to put peaceful protestors through hell.

At the beginning of 2003, demonstrators against the impending war with Iraq set up a peace camp outside the military base at Fairford in Gloucestershire, from which US B52s would launch their bombing raids. Every day - sometimes several times a day - the protesters were stopped and searched under section 44.(12) The police, according to a parliamentary answer, used the act 995 times, though they knew that no one at the camp was a terrorist.(13) The constant harassment and detention pretty well broke the protesters' resolve. Since then the police have used the same section to pin down demonstrators outside the bomb depot at Welford in Berkshire, at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, at Menwith Hill and at the annual arms fair in London's Docklands.(14)

The police are also rediscovering the benefits of some of our more venerable instruments. On September 10th, Keith Richardson, one of the six students convicted of aggravated trespass on Friday, had his stall in Lancaster city centre confiscated under the 1824 Vagrancy Act.(15) "Every Person wandering abroad and endeavouring by the Exposure of Wounds and Deformities to obtain or gather Alms ... shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond...".(16) The act was intended to prevent the veterans of the Napoleonic wars from begging, but the police decided that the pictures of the wounds and deformities on his anti-vivisection leaflets put him on the wrong side of the law. In two recent cases, protestors have been arrested under the 1361 Justices of the Peace Act. So much for Mr Blair's "21st Century methods".

What is most remarkable about all this is that until Mr Wolfgang was held, neither parliamentarians nor the press were interested. The pressure group Liberty, the Green Party, a couple of alternative comedians, the Indymedia network and the alternative magazine Schnews have been left to defend our civil liberties almost unassisted. Even after "Wolfie" was thrown out of the conference, public criticism concentrated on the suppression of dissent within the Labour Party, rather than the suppression of dissent throughout the country. As the parliamentary opposition falls apart, the extra-parliamentary one is being closed down with hardly a rumble of protest from the huffers and puffers who insist that civil liberties are Britain's gift to the world. Perhaps they're afraid they'll be arrested.

www.monbiot.com

References:

1. Tony Blair, 27th September 2005. Speech to the Labour Party conference.
2. Page 757 of the 1978 Penguin edition.
3. George Fox 6 Supporters Group, no date given. Students Face Jail for Handing out Leaflets at University. Press release. There is more information at: http://www.free-webspace.biz/GeorgeFox/
4. George Fox 6 Supporters Group, 30th September 2005. Student demonstrators will appeal aggravated trespass conviction. Press release.
5. Section 59, the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.
6. SchNEWS, 20th March 1998. Issue 159. http://www.schnews.org.uk/
7. Smash Edo, 26th March 2005. Arms Dealers Drop Legal Bombshell On Protesters. Press Release.
8. Simon Dally, pers comm, 4th August 2004 and 21st February 2005. Simon Dally acted as legal adviser in this case.
9. Yorkshire CND, 13th December 2000 and 16th January 2001. Menwith Hill news diary. http://www.cndyorks.gn.apc.org/caab/articles/caabspmhs.htm
10. Schnews, 16th February 2001. Issue 293.
11. Mark Barrett, People's Commons protester, 2nd October 2005. Pers comm.
12. Liberty, Gloucestershire Weapons Inspectors and Berkshire CIA, 2003. Casualty of War: 8 weeks of counter-terrorism in rural England. http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/pdfs/casualty-of-war.pdf
13. Bob Ainsworth MP, 11th April 2003. Holding Answer.
14. Liberty, Gloucestershire Weapons Inspectors and Berkshire CIA, ibid.
15. Keith Richardson, 30th September 2005. Pers comm.

[ zmag.org

5. October 2005

obwohl in england und wales in den knästen mit niedriger sicherheitsstufe das benutzen von schlagstöcken aus holz verboten ist, werden sie in mehreren abschiebelagern gegen die flüchtlinge benutzt.

Wooden staves used in migrant detention centres

� Prisons inspector calls the practice unacceptable
� Home Office insists the weapon is 'rarely drawn'

Prison officers at two of Britain's biggest immigration detention centres are routinely carrying wooden staves to enforce discipline, despite the fact that their use is banned in low-security prisons across England and Wales.

The practice is revealed today by Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, who tells ministers that their use is unacceptable. "Their routine deployment in a centre holding those not convicted of any criminal offence is intimidating," she has told the home secretary, Charles Clarke. Wooden staves are being used to intimidate detainees at Dover and Haslar, near Portsmouth, immigration removal centres which hold people refused asylum and illegal entrants who face deportation.

A standing Prison Service instruction, PSO 1600 which is known as the "bible" of prison discipline on the use of force, says that wooden staves - which are about 30cm (1ft) long and similar to old-style police truncheons - must not be carried by officers in category D low-security, women's and juvenile prisons in England and Wales. It adds that the "drawing and use of a stave must be regarded as an exceptional measure".

But Ms Owers records that one of the five occasions when force was used at Haslar in the six months before her inspection in May had involved a member of staff drawing his stave. "There may be exceptional circumstances that demand the issue of weaponry, but their routine deployment in a centre holding those not convicted of any criminal offence is intimidating and, significantly, not regarded as necessary in private sector removal centres," she said.

The practice was defended yesterday by a Home Office spokesman who said it was a standing instruction to prison officers outside of category D, women's and juvenile prisons to carry a stave or extendible baton at all times. "The risk- assessment at Haslar and Dover removal centres is that this is necessary," he said. "They are very rarely drawn and have been used on only 20 occasions in prisons in the past year. One of those 20 occasions was in Haslar."

But Prison Service officials are so unhappy with the potential dangers of using wooden staves to control immigration detainees and other prisoners that they are to be banned by next year throughout all prisons in England and Wales and replaced by plastic Cubiton batons based on a Chinese martial arts weapon. "The stave is no longer considered adequate protection, with the potential of splitting or breaking when it actually comes to using it," Jennifer Wood of the Prison Service's security policy group was quoted as saying last December in an internal Home Office newsletter. It is expected that wooden staves will be banned throughout the prison estate from next January.

Ms Owers' inspection report into Haslar also says that the buildings are in such a poor state of repair that its continued use as an immigration centre should depend on a major rebuilding programme. The chief inspector of prisons also records that new vans used by the private escort contractor were "not fit for purpose", with cramped seating and clear windows that allowed onlookers to see inside, which triggered a number of incidents of abuse by passers-by. The windows have since been blanked out.

Haslar also operates a novel "reward and punishment" system under which detainees put on an "enhanced" level of privileges are not only offered the choice of smoking or non-smoking dormitories but also the opportunity to order goods from the Argos catalogue and take part in bingo sessions paying higher prize money. Half the 100 immigration detainees in Haslar are Muslim.

[ guardian.co.uk

27. September 2005

Gefängnis schafft Biometrie wieder ab

Nach einem Bericht von news.scotsman.com musste im schottischen Hochsicherheitsgefängnis Glenochil in der Nähe von Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, ein auf biometrischen Verfahren basierendes Zugangskontrollsystem deinstalliert werden, nachdem ein Häftling dem Personal gezeigt hatten, wie leicht es zu umgehen sei.

Das biometrische Sicherheitssystem hatte in der Anschaffung geschätzte 4,4 Mio. Euro (bzw. 3 Mio GBP) gekostet. Nach Eingabe eines PIN-Codes mussten die Wärter Finger auf eine Glasplatte legen und konnten nach positiver Erkennung des Fingerabdrucks Türen öffnen oder abschließen.

Nachdem ein Häftling den Wärtern gezeigt hatte, dass er das System leicht umgehen konnte, wurde festgestellt, dass auch andere Gefangene diese Möglichkeit bereits des öfteren in Anspruch genommen hatten und sich recht freizügig durch das Gebäude bewegen konnten.

Statt zu einer teuren Nachbesserung des Systems haben die zuständigen Stellen entschieden, das untaugliche biometrische System abzuschaffen und den Wärtern wieder Schlüssel auszuhängen.

[ datenschutz.de

Prisoners unpick hi-tech lock system

PRISON officers have been forced to abandon a new security system and return to the use of keys after the cutting-edge technology repeatedly failed. The system, which is thought to have cost over �3 million, used fingerprint recognition to activate the locking system at the high-security Glenochil Prison near Tullibody, Clackmannanshire.

After typing in a PIN code, prison officers had to place their finger on a piece of glass. Once the print was recognised, they could then lock and unlock prison doors. However, problems arose after a prisoner demonstrated to wardens that he could get through the system at will. Other prisoners had been doing the same for some time.

Instead of fixing the state-of-the-art technology, prison governors have decided that it is more cost-effective to get rid of it and return to the system of every officer having his own key. For more than a month, the 420 inmates - including some murderers and other high-risk inmates - had been able to wander around the high-security jail. Staff claim that the unlimited access to all parts of the prison had allowed some prisoners to settle old scores with rivals. Some even predicted the security breach would lead to members of staff being attacked or taken hostage. It is thought that Saughton Prison in Edinburgh has also experienced problems with similar technology. Staff at Glenochil are frustrated that time and money have been wasted and are anxious to have a new system put in place.

A prison insider said: "We were notified in the staff newsletter that they would be reverting back to the old keys. "The equipment for the fingerprint system is still in place, but it is no longer in use. It will probably stay there for years but never get used. "At the moment, we are still having to go through the control room in order to get through doors because the keys and locks have not been fitted yet. "Everything has been held up, although it has got a little better in the past week. "We are getting used to it now and the people in the control room are faster at letting us through, but we are still worried that someone will get stuck behind a door. "In an emergency, it can be really dangerous."

The newsletter did not state when staff would be getting their set of keys, which would allow them to access different parts of the jail more easily without any queuing. The insider said: "They have not put a timescale on it, so we don't know when it will be sorted out. "I heard there have been the same problems in Saughton and I'm not surprised. "If the security system fails in one jail, then it normally gets taken out of them all. "They don't like to have different types in different jails. It is better if all the prisons have the same device."

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service admitted that there had been problems but said that it was working to find an alternative. He said: "We are presently working with the supplier with a view to obtaining something that will meet our needs.

"We are working under the contract to come up with an alternative and solve this problem." Glenochil is in the process of demolishing the last of its four old halls, D Hall. A, B and C Halls have already been flattened. A second new hall is expected to be built within the next few years.

[ scotsman.com

14. September 2005

UK / SCOTLAND

die schottische regierung hat einen vertrag mit reliance, einer private sicherheitsfirma, die seit 2002 einen vertrag zum taggen von verurteilten hat, nachdem mehrere menschen geflohen sind, gekündigt. Zukünftig wird dies von serco , der firma die den bisher einzigen privatknast in schottland betreibt, gemacht.

Reliance loses contract for tagging offenders

RELIANCE, the private security firm criticised over a series of prisoner escapes, has lost the multi-million pound contract for tagging offenders in Scotland. The initial �14m deal was awarded to Reliance Monitoring in January 2002 before being extended for a further 12 months, worth �8m, earlier this year.

However, Serco, the com-pany which runs Scotland's only private prison, has now been awarded preferred bidder status for the tender to operate electronic monitoring on teenage and adult offenders from next April until 2011. The Scottish Executive is expected to make an official announcement next month. Critics believe the monitoring firm lost favour after its sister company, Reliance Custodial Services, took over prisoner escort responsibilities in April 2004. Just days into the seven-year �126m contract's roll-out, the firm allowed a number of prisoners to escape, including James McCormick, a convicted killer who was aged 17. The decision to award the contract to Serco is also expected to prove controversial. Serco owns Premier Custodial Services, the firm which runs Kilmarnock prison, and was rebuked earlier this year following claims of staff shortages and negligence. A BBC reporter found evidence that warders failed to carry out suicide checks, despite six suicides at the jail in a five-year period.

The programme also claimed that officers failed to report offences, including heroin use, which would attract a fine, to protect the income of the jail's operator. The screening of Prison Undercover: The Real Story led to three staff being removed from their duties and an internal investigation by Premier.

A fatal accident inquiry earlier this year into the suicide of an inmate at the prison in 2002 was highly critical of failures to monitor him. Premier said a number of improvements had already been introduced. Kenny MacAskill, the SNP justice spokesman, said the executive should not contract out such an important role. "If we are going to do tagging it has to be done by a credible, reputable company," he said. "Serco's record elsewhere in the criminal justice system does not fill me with optimism. There was a time when the state had to take responsibility and do it themselves because it is about the security of the public ? not private profit." Electronic monitoring will become far more widespread following decisions by ministers to pilot tagging to monitor suspects on bail and offenders nearing the completion of their prison sentences. Reliance Monitoring was responsible for tagging more than 1000 offenders and had a good track record. The firm recently began work to tag youths aged under-16 and asylum seekers. Securicor, Serco and Re-liance Monitoring all bid for the new contract, the full details of which are still under discussion.

Annabel Goldie, the home affairs spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, added: "The bottom line is that public protection demands that if tagging is the best way of controlling an individual not in custody, that the system operates robustly and at the best price available to the public purse. "Obviously the executive has made its decision but experience has demonstrated that any contractor working in the field of criminal justice in Scotland can expect intense political scrutiny." A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "The tendering process that we announced earlier this year is ongoing."

He added that the process is expected to be concluded in October. A spokesman for Serco said: "We are on a shortlist for this but we have not heard an announcement as yet." The Reliance Monitoring spokesman said: "We have been told that this has not yet been decided and that an announcement will be made in October."

[

11. September 2005

ein 27 jähriger mann wurde von der polizei in manchester erschossen.

Probe after police shoot man dead

A 27-year-old man has been shot dead by police after a gunman opened fire at a house in Greater Manchester.

Craig King was shot in Crawford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, on Saturday.Police had been called to reports of a domestic dispute, which residents said involved Mr King's sister. A man shot at the house while officers were there.Mr King, of Salford, was shot after armed officers arrived, and died in hospital. Police later recovered a machete, a rifle and unused ammunition.An investigation is now under way and the incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

A spokesman said on Sunday: "The IPCC last night sent a senior investigator to assess what has happened and advise how the investigation should be carried out."Greater Manchester Police said they were alerted to a domestic incident at 1811 BST on Saturday, in which a man, believed to have been Mr King, had smashed a window with a machete.When officers arrived, Mr King was not there, but two stayed with the occupants of the house, one believed to be the man's sister.

An hour later, a man drove past and fired a shot at the property, police said.Mr King was shot after four armed officers were sent to the scene and had been confronted by him at about 2012 BST, police added.Assistant Chief Constable Steve Thomas, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "The officers performed first aid until paramedics arrived and took him to Tameside General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 9pm (2100 BST)."A 2.2 rifle and over 100 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the scene.A car containing a machete and further ammunition was found nearby.

Mr Thomas said he could not give details of the exact circumstances in which Mr King was shot, but said no officers had been suspended from duty as a result of the incident.The armed officers would continue to work in the firearms unit, but would not be deployed with firearms until investigations had been completed, he added.

Crawford Street, where the shooting took place, is in a red-brick area just outside the town centre.Some residents said they believed Mr King, thought to be a former nightclub bouncer, attacked the house because he was unhappy with his sister's choice of boyfriend.One woman, who did not want to be named, told the BBC people were in shock."It started yesterday afternoon - a man with a machete breaking windows and having a go at his car," she said"He drove off but about an hour after he came back and we just heard two shots."Other witnesses described hearing windows being broken and two shots being fired at about 2010 BST.

[ news.bbc.co.uk

5. September 2005

geistliche die zwangsehen schließen sollen nach einem neuen gesetz mit bis zu 5 jahren knast bestraft werden.

Clerics could face jail for overseeing forced marriages

IMAMS and other clerics who carry out forced marriages face the threat of being charged with a criminal offence under proposals unveiled today.Scottish Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm published a series of options which would make forcing someone into marriage a specific crime for the first time.

One option would catch all those who "facilitated a marriage, including those who solemnised the marriage or otherwise conducted the ceremony", providing they knew that the bride or groom were unwilling participants.The offence could carry up to five years' imprisonment.The move comes after a report warned that 85 people a year in Edinburgh are being forced into marriages.The report from the Council of British Pakistanis in Scotland (CBPS) warned that dozens of women and men were suffering physical and mental abuse as a result.

Today's consultation paper was being launched in conjunction with the Home Office and Foreign Office so that whatever proposals come out of it will cover the whole of the UK. The paper warned there were a number of serious drawbacks with introducing the new offence, and stressed ministers had not yet made up their minds on the issue.Criminalisation could dissuade victims from seeking help because they would fear their parents being jailed, it suggested.It could also drive the practice underground and lead to more parents taking children overseas in their early teens or younger, until they have been forced to wed and had children.

A special Government unit has dealt with more than 1000 cases of forced marriage since it was set up in 2000. It has also rescued and repatriated to the UK about 200 young people from overseas.Most cases of forced marriage originate from South Asia, but British officials have also seen examples from East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. About 15% of cases involve male victims.

In Edinburgh, the CBPS report, compiled last year following a three-year study into the problem of forced marriages, showed young people between the ages of 16 and 20 were most at risk.It uncovered cases of rape, as well as physical and mental abuse, and said the problem would only get worse unless action is taken.The CBPS called on the Scottish Executive to address the situation, accusing the authorities of ignoring the issue.Their report said that the vast majority of people in Edinburgh forced into marriage were from the Pakistani community.

But local councillor Shami Khan questioned whether the problem was as severe as was being suggested.He said: "I am yet to see evidence that supports claims on the number of forced marriages carried out in Edinburgh."It is actually very difficult to carry out a forced marriage in Pakistan. It does happen, but I think in a lot of cases we might be dealing with a young couple who have married, come to Britain, and then it does not work out so one partner claims it was a forced marriage in order to get out."Domestic abuse is the real issue, not forced marriage."

;

[ scotsman.com

29. August 2005

wer sich "schuldig" bekennt, dem soll in zukunft die strafe um 1/3 reduziert werden.

CRIMINALS slash their jail terms by pleading guilty

CRIMINALS in Glasgow are having their jail sentences slashed by a third under new changes to the court system.

One in four prisoners appearing at the city's High Court is being rewarded for lodging guilty pleas and not standing trial by being given reduced jail time.It is part of a drive to speed up business at the High Court throughout Scotland in an attempt to minimise disruption to victims and witnesses.The changes have been helped by a ruling which enables criminals to get up to 30% off custodial sentences if they admit offences and avoid the need to organise a trial.

Crown Office figures reveal 24% of prisoners in Glasgow lodged guilty pleas after the changes were introduced. The figure for Edinburgh was slightly higher at 28%.But the figures for the period between April last year and March also revealed a 26% reduction in the number of witnesses normally called to attend court.Lord Bonomy had recommended discounted sentences when he noted that half of High Court cases ended in guilty pleas, which is usually made after a trial date had been set.

Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC said: "It is extremely encouraging to see the Bonomy reforms displaying early successes in reducing the need for witnesses and victims to attend court."Scotland's law chief said more cases were being completed at the earliest possible stage and added: "Accused people are pleading guilty at preliminary hearings without the need for witnesses to attend and sometimes even sooner."

In the past, discounted sentences were only considered for prisoners who had shown true remorse or were prepared to plead guilty than stand trial.Eugene Boyle, of PRG Partnership Solicitors in Glasgow, said: "A lot more people are pleading guilty on the understanding they will get a discount."News of this has filtered through the system and the prisons."The Scottish Executive is delighted at the latest findings.A spokesman said: "Modernisation of our courts is more than just a slogan."It is about achieving a safer, stronger Scotland through an efficient and effective justice service."

[ eveningtimes.co.uk

27 August 2005

um gegen betrug und drogen vorzugehen soll eine fbi ähnliche polizei aufgebaut werden

FBI-style agency for Scotland to help combat drugs and fraud

AN FBI-style police squad is to be set up in Scotland to help fight international gangs, drug dealing and organised crime. The national drugs agency, the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency (SDEA) is being given independence and is set to start recruiting police officers. It will be renamed as the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. Graeme Pearson, director of the SDEA, which also tackles computer crime and money-laundering, said: "This will create the first national law enforcement agency for Scotland. We need to be able to recruit particularly skilled people from universities and banks who want to be investigators. "We welcome this commitment from ministers to make the agency fit for the changing demands of the next two decades." Earlier this year, it was revealed Mr Pearson had called for SDEA officers to be allowed to carry firearms in emergency situations.

He also warned that the agency needed more independence to combat the threat from violent eastern European gangs. The director also requested under Scottish Executive police bill consultation for the SDEA to carry out covert surveillance. The outcome of the request regarding firearms is not yet known, although it is expected the agency will be given the power to authorise covert surveillance. When the police bill goes before parliament this autumn, it will also create the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), responsible for providing common services and a national forensic science service. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "Ministers have already acted to invest in strengthening our drug enforcement agency. These changes will help the agency to do its job more effectively, for example, in the recruitment of staff."

[ edinburghnews.scotsman.com

14. August 2005

engere überwachung für "pädophile und gewalttäter" als "pilotprojekt" in schottland

Closer supervision for offenders

Paedophiles and violent offenders are set to come under closer supervision through a new scheme due to be piloted in Scotland within weeks.A new police database and number plate recognition technology will be used to keep tabs on their movements.Campaigners called for tougher measures following the murder of eight-year-old Mark Cummings in Glasgow last year.

But human rights campaigners said there must be safeguards to make sure any information held is accurate.Stuart Leggate was jailed for a minimum of 20 years in October 2004 for the murder of Mark Cummings.He strangled the eight-year-old then threw him down the refuse chute at flats in Royston, Glasgow.Leggate had previous convictions for sexually assaulting children and was on the sex offenders' register at the time of the murder.

After his conviction Mark's family led a march to Glasgow's George Square to demand a clampdown on paedophiles.Under the new scheme police, social workers and the Scottish Prison Service will be able to share information on a national intelligence database known as Visor.Police said it would allow them to monitor offenders such as Leggate and help cut the number of rapes, child abductions and murders.As well as having information on sex offenders on the database, the registration number of their car will also be stored.Police will be alerted if they make a journey to areas they are banned from visiting.

[ news.bbc.co.uk

12. August 2005

für eine verschärfung der hooligan- gesetze wird die bevorstehende weltmeisterschaft als grund angegeben. U.a. sollen auch geringfügige delikte bestraft werden und weniger kautionen erlassen werden.

Hooligan laws tightening unveiled

Prosecutors have announced plans to tighten up on football hooliganism ahead of the World Cup next year.More minor offences will be prosecuted and fewer people let off with cautions, under plans agreed by police chiefs and the Crown Prosecution Service.This will in turn lead to more travel bans being imposed on known hooligans, the BBC's Gordon Farquahar reports.But the Football Supporters Federation says it fears some fans may be harshly penalised for very minor offences.

However, the group says it does support action against those who are violent or who threaten violence.Legislation to ban known football hooligans from travelling overseas for key games was introduced five years ago.Under these laws, known trouble-makers are required to report to local police stations and hand their passports in ahead of important international matches.

Police, the government and football authorities believe the laws have been effective in reducing trouble and restoring the previously tarnished reputation of England soccer fans.According to Home Office figures for the 2003/04 season, the number of Football Banning Orders increased from 1,794 to 2,596 in just over a year.

And arrests decreased from 4,413 to 3,982 over the same period.Currently the 42 police forces in England and Wales vary the way they deal with offenders.Now the CPS wants to bring them into line by issuing new guidelines for tackling trouble inside and outside grounds.A zero tolerance policy for football-related offences will be enforced, which means there will be a presumption of prosecution whenever there is enough evidence to bring offenders to court.

Where convictions are made, and are deemed to be football-related, the CPS will invite the sentencing court to impose a Football Banning Order.The maximum punishments for breaching this order are six months in prison and a �5,000 fine.Plans to deal with fans who arrange to meet by using their mobile phones for fights before games have also been set out.Chief Crown Prosecutor for the West Midlands David Blundell said: "We want to prevent the small minority of yobs from travelling to Germany for the World Cup in 2006."He said that while most England fans were a credit to the game, a minority ruined the occasion and gave all England supporters a bad reputation.

The move to seek banning orders - which prevent convicted hooligans travelling out of the country whenever England or Wales are playing abroad - has been welcomed by football authorities.David Swift, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on football-related matters and Deputy Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police, also backed the move."There are currently 900 individuals who are being targeted by 29 dedicated policing operations across the country." he said."Those officers will be seeking direction from the CPS on the evidence they have collected and the positive approach to prosecution should increase convictions and bans."Most importantly it will help reduce the likelihood of violence by the English in Germany."

[ news.bbc.co.uk

11. August 2005

bereits am 4. august soll es eine "feuerwerksähnliche" explosion im hochsicherheitsknast whitemoore gegeben haben. Der knast war zwei tage unter "lockdown".

Explosion at prison holding al-Qaida suspect

AN explosion at a prison where an al-Qaida suspect is held was under investigation today.The top security Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire was locked down for two days following the firework-like explosion within a wing.British shoebomber Saajid Badat, 25, who was jailed for 13 years, is believed to be in isolation with three other prisoners after being forensically tested for traces of explosives.

Badat, of Gloucester, admitted plotting to explode a shoebomb on a transatlantic flight in December 2001 at the same time as fellow shoebomber Richard Reid, but he said he could not face being a "courier of death" and rejected terrorism.A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said: "We can confirm there was a very small firework-like explosion within a wing of Whitemoor Prison around 7.45pm on August 4.

"There was no damage, no risk of injuries and the routine of the prison was not disrupted."The prison was locked down on time."The device is being analysed but there is nothing to indicate at this stage that explosives have been smuggled into the prison."It is thought the bomb was made from ingredients available within the prison such as sugar and weedkiller.Sentencing Badat in April, Mr Justice Fulford said he could have been facing a term of more than 50 years if he had gone ahead with the plan to blow up a passenger jet.

[ scotsman.com

Jail explosion 'aimed to embarrass'

An explosion at one of Britain's highest-security jails was probably designed to cause embarrassment to the Prison Service and not injury or damage, a prisons expert said.Mark Leech, editor of the Prisons Handbook, said he had spoken to staff at Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire, which was locked down for a day following a small, "firework-like" explosion.He said: "They said this was a small, fire cracker-like device. It wasn't designed to injure anyone or cause damage, but to cause embarrassment to the Prison Service, which appears to have worked.

[ scotsman.com

10. august 2005

die gruppe prison reform trust gibt die zahl der gefangenen in der ersten august woche mit 76. 897 an und sagt damit wären die knäste mit fast 10.000 menschen überbelegt.

Group warns of overcrowded English jails

LONDON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- An inmate advocacy group says half the prisons in England and Wales are over capacity, with 10,000 more prisoners in the system than it was designed to hold.The Prison Reform Trust suggests overcrowding could be contributing to inmate suicides, the Guardian reported.The group said 74 out of 142 facilities are over their "certified normal accommodation" and 15 are holding so many prisoners they have exceeded safe levels. There were a record 76,897 inmates in the system this week.

"This overcrowding poses a real and serious danger to prison and public safety," Juliet Lyon, the director of the trust, told the Guardian.A spokeswoman for the Home Office, which supervises the prison system, denied any facilities are dangerously overcrowded. She said in cases where prisons are listed as having a capacity beyond the safe level, it is usually because some of the inmates assigned there are on temporary release or in a hospital.The Home Office recently forecast there would by 90,000 inmates in English and Welsh prisons by 2010.

[ sciencedaily.com

10. August 2005

ein bericht über einen obdachlosen mann, der mit einer sog. Antisocial behaviour order (asbo) bestraft wurde und wegen wiederholten verstößen dagegen in den knast kam. Der mann kann nicht lesen und ihm wurden die asbo - bestimmungen nie vorgelesen.

Rough justice

Probation officer John Bell tells how shocked he was by the scope and length of an antisocial behaviour order that led to an illiterate, homeless man being imprisoned Andrew White, a 43-year-old homeless man, breached his antisocial behaviour order (Asbo) by sitting on the bottom steps of a fire escape, behind a derelict building. For that breach, he spent three weeks in prison. That morning he had come out of the local night shelter with another homeless man. The weather was fine and they had an hour or so to wait before the day centre for homeless people opened. So they crossed the road to a derelict office building and sat in the sunshine. His companion started to inject himself with heroin. Whether White knew or cared about this is uncertain, but when the police came by the other homeless man was told to move on, and White was arrested.

He had breached two terms of his Asbo. One forbade him from entering or attempting to enter any privately-owned land or building in West Yorkshire "without rightful authority of the owner; White had clearly not asked the owners of the building if they minded him sitting on their fire escape. The second prevented him from being present when a drug or substance proscribed as controlled is traded, sold, supplied or otherwise distributed in a public place. The man using the drug walked free; White was arrested.

I met White in our local prison. He was very vague about his Asbo - which is not surprising as he is illiterate and no one had ever read it to him. When I did so I was surprised to find that at least half its conditions prohibited him from doing, in West Yorkshire, things that would be crimes anywhere in the country. I had to point out to him that although his Asbo forbade him only from shoplifting in West Yorkshire, he would certainly be prosecuted if he did it in North or South Yorkshire, or even Lancashire.

His Asbo had been extraordinarily sloppily put together. The clauses numbered from 1 to 12, but between clauses 9 and 10 an additional couple of clauses had been added without any renumbering. It seems these had been cut and pasted from a previous Asbo and were so badly worded as to negate their effect. There was also an illegible handwritten amendment. All in all, it looked as if the court had not treated the Asbo as a serious document, since it is hard to believe that any court clerk checking it could have left this mess.

I was intrigued by this list of prohibited acts, which seemed entirely arbitrary, until I looked at White's criminal record. Then all became clear. Twice in 1995 he had been convicted of living on immoral earnings. All his convictions, with one exception, had been in West Yorkshire. In 1982, he had been involved in taking a motor vehicle in North Yorkshire.The court, it seems, had gone down his extensive list of previous convictions and made everything he had ever been convicted of the subject of an Asbo. The fact that he had already been punished for these acts, often by long terms of imprisonment, was neither here nor there. He had committed many of these crimes more than 20 years ago.

I rang the antisocial behaviour unit to ask why it had requested a clause, for example, forbidding shoplifting (clause 9), when this was a crime. I was told that it was because the courts did not take shoplifting seriously. This was news to me, as I regularly deal with shoplifters who get sent to prison, but, clearly, the antisocial behaviour officer thought that, without the Asbo, White could go shoplifting throughout the area with no real penalty.In reality, the purpose of the Asbo was clear: to ensure that this homeless and illiterate man would receive a longer than commensurate sentence for any criminal act.

Clause 6 would have prevented him from calling the probation office to say, "I have forgotten my appointment. When am I supposed to come and see you?", or to go to his GP and ask for an appointment, since all such appointments had to be pre-arranged. If he did not know the telephone number, or had no change for a telephone call, he would be unable to arrange an appointment.

As he was illiterate, White could not write to his probation officer or GP to ask for an appointment, and might well have been unable to look up their phone numbers, but that seems not to have worried the court. Thus, if he did not know when his next appointment was with his probation officer, he would have had to work out whether it would be worse to breach his probation or his Asbo.

Looking at his Asbo, it is difficult to see what it is that is specifically anti-social, rather than illegal, that is being prohibited. The public has been led to believe that Asbos are for dealing with disruptive gangs of young people that terrorise estates. They have not been told that Asbos are for inflicting heavier than normal punishments on homeless people.

In my report to the court, I said: "In the absence of an Asbo, it is arguable whether the behaviour [sitting in the sun] would have constituted an offence, and within a common sense definition it is arguable whether the behaviour constituted antisocial behaviour."I suggested that he had already, while on remand, served a prison sentence that seemed more than commensurate with the gravity of the offence and that he should be released. The magistrates agreed, and White, having spent three weeks inside, was released. I have not seen him since.

� All names have been changed.

*The 14 commandments of an Asbo*

*Issued August 4, 2004, Andrew White is prohibited in the county of West Yorkshire from:*

*1* Acting in a manner which causes or is likely to cause nuisance, harassment, alarm or distress to any person.

*2* Abusing, insulting, harassing or threatening any person.

*3* Using or threatening violence towards any person.

*4* Using or threatening to use residential premises for illegal or immoral purposes.

*5* Entering or attempting to enter any land or building without rightful authority of the owner or his/her representative, save for public land or buildings.

*6* Entering or attempting to enter and/or remain in any place within the area shaded in light brown, marked on the attached map, including any and all retail premises within the proscribed area, with the exception of pre-arranged appointments with a solicitor, doctor, probation officer, department of social security or any other statutory body when he must enter and leave by the most direct route.

*7* Being in possession of a drug or substance proscribed as controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in a public place or a place to which the public has access.

*8* Knowingly being present when a drug or substance proscribed as controlled is traded, sold, supplied or otherwise distributed in a public place or a place to which the public has access.

*9* Removing any property from any retail premises without lawful authority or payment in full.

*10* Drive any motor propelled vehicle without a valid driving licence, insurance policy, vehicle registration document and vehicle MOT certificate in the counties of West and North Yorkshire.

*11*Being conveyed in any motor propelled vehicle without a valid driving licence, insurance policy, vehicle registration document and vehicle MOT certificate in the counties of North and West Yorkshire.

*12* Having contact with, in public, whether being by/in a group with, talking to or otherwise associating with [name here] and [name here], save for when [here there is an illegible note followed by the names of the local night shelter and homeless day centre].

*13* Encouraging or inciting others to carry out any of the prohibited acts on his behalf.

*14* Knowingly being present when a criminal or antisocial act is being committed.

*Until 4pm, August 4, 2014.*

[ politics.guardian.co.uk

3. August 2005

die abfindungen, die für die gefangenen in schottischen knästen, die zum "slop out" gezwungen sind bereitgestellt werden müssen, sind um 70% auf die summe von �44 millionen angestiegen.Und da nach wie vor immer noch 460 gefangene im knast peterhead dazugezwungen werden und 640 klagen noch nicht entschieden sind, dürfte die summe noch höher werden.

Prison failure leaves taxpayer with �44m bill

THE amount of money earmarked for compensation to Scottish prisoners forced to "slop out" has soared by 70 per cent to �44 million in the past year, it emerged yesterday.But the final cost could be tens of millions of pounds higher, with ministers yet to agree a plan to completely eradicate the practice in Scottish jails. Taxpayers also face having to pick up legal aid bills, currently running at about �100,000 a month, for prisoners taking slopping out cases to court.Politicians accused the Scottish Executive of ignoring warnings that slopping out was likely to breach human rights legislation and said ministers were wholly to blame for the huge and growing bill facing taxpayers.

Lord McCluskey, a retired High Court judge, said the original decision to award prisoner Robert Napier �2,450 compensation for slopping out at Barlinnie jail in Glasgow was "remarkable". Writing in The Scotsman today, he said: "I doubt if anyone who had any part in framing the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR] 50 years ago would have imagined 'slopping out' could come to be regarded as a breach of a criminal's human rights. At that time, slopping out was wide-spread in European prisons. It still is in many of the countries signed up to the Convention."

The lawyer who handled the landmark Napier case said ministers had failed to confront the issue. Tony Kelly, of Coatbridge-based Taylor & Kelly, said: "This problem is a direct result of decisions made by ministers in the 1990s and post-devolution. They knew slopping out was appalling and risked breaching human rights legislation."That prospect was first raised in 1990, when the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture said slopping out in English jails was "utterly appalling". That led to a huge improvement programme, ending the practice south of the Border by 1996.But the same committee visited Barlinnie in 1994 and warned the lack of toilets in cells could be in breach of article three of the ECHR. Slopping out was also fiercely criticised in a 1997 report by the then chief inspector of prisons, Clive Fairweather, and has been routinely condemned by him and his successor, Dr Andrew McLellan.

Mr Kelly said the Executive had to shoulder a large slice of the blame. "In the first post-devolution budget, Jim Wallace, who was justice minister, took millions of pounds out of the pot for prisons and redirected it to drug enforcement," he said. "In 1999, 2000 and 2001, there were numerous debates in parliament on slopping out, and little was done. They knew about this but nothing was done. It's not rocket science."About 460 prisoners (7 per cent of the total) still have to slop out, mostly at Peterhead jail. Over the past three years, slopping out has ended at Barlinnie, Perth, Edinburgh and Glenochil, but plans have yet to be drawn up to tackle the problem at Peterhead.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) made provision in its 2003-4 accounts for �26 million to cover expected claims after the Napier case. That has been raised to �44 million after a new estimate of the SPS's liability arising from a series of cases similar to Napier's, according to the accounts for 2004-5.An SPS spokesman said the �44 million figure was based on "the best information available" - but he could not rule out the possibility that the final cost would be higher. He said major improvements to prison conditions were reducing the likelihood of countless compensation claims in years to come.About 640 cases are pending in the sheriff courts, with 150 set for judicial review. According to the latest figures, 432 cases were granted legal aid in the ten months between April 2004 and February this year, with the majority of cases each likely to incur legal fees of between �2,000 and �2,500.

Taxpayers also face paying out millions more in court costs - and Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's justice spokesman, claimed the blame for the bill rested with ministers."The Executive was told the costs and was fully aware there was a problem looming over slopping out," he said. "It failed to act even when it had the funds available to rectify the situation. It is unacceptable that because the Executive failed to take action, the price is being met by the Scottish taxpayer."Margaret Mitchell, the Scottish Tories' justice spokeswoman, said: "We must not forget this was an entirely avoidable fiasco. The original ruling makes it plain [ministers] took a deliberate decision not to address cell conditions when they both had the resources and capacity to do so."The withdrawal of �13 million funding in 1999, and delay in ending slopping out from the Tory target date of 1999 to an unspecified time in the future led directly to the compensation ruling and multi-million-pound claims."

Lord McCluskey called on the Executive to fight the remaining cases. He asked: "How can it be for judges to decide that spending money on improving toilet facilities for convicted criminals is more important than spending that money on tackling domestic violence or on trying to fight the menace of dangerous drugs? It [is] to be regretted that the Executive did not present a full appeal and argue the case all the way to the House of Lords. Is it now too late for it to fight the remaining cases in order to seek a ruling that commands public respect?"

An Executive spokeswoman said ministers had "directed sustained and substantial increases in resources to the SPS to modernise long-neglected buildings and improve conditions".She pointed out that slopping out had ended at four prisons since 2003 and said: "The total number of prisoners slopping out is a quarter of what it was just four years ago."

[ scotsman.com

July 2005

UK

Magazine written and made by prisoners and supporters against the prisonsystem.

[ EXHIBIT A No.3

31. July 2005

UK

5.3 % der anzeigen wegen vergewaltigung enden mit einem schuldspruch.

Law failing rape victims, says QC

Rape victims' past sex lives are still being raked over in court too often, despite a change in the law designed to boost conviction rates, a leading lawyer has warned.Just 5.3 per cent of rape allegations ended in a guilty verdict, according to the latest Home Office figures. And more than a third of cases sent to the Crown Court collapsed before the defendant reached the dock, often because victims were unable to face the ordeal of testifying.

The law was changed in 2000 to prevent women's sexual pasts being used to argue that they must have consented to have sex, after research showed that such details were often used to discredit victims. But Vera Baird QC, a Labour MP and leading criminal barrister, said a 'depressingly large' number of judges still considered sexual history relevant.A report commissioned by the Home Office, due to be published this autumn, is expected to highlight concerns over the issue, while research conducted for the Criminal Bar Association found many judges furious at the change in the law.

'The concern was that the majority had been completely looking for ways round what the legislation said rather than complying with it,' Baird told The Observer. 'I am afraid that I think there are still huge issues about that. There may be proposals to revise this provision once we see the independent research.'This week The Observer gives its backing to a campaign launched by Glamour magazine to raise conviction rates by training more specialist prosecutors, setting up a network of specialist 'safe haven' centres where victims can get medical help and support, and establishing a national 24-hour rape crisis line to help victims.

Conviction rates are thought to have risen slightly, to 5.8 per cent, following changes in the law introduced last year making it easier to prove a woman did not consent. But they are still lower than in the 1970s.One theory is that they have fallen because of the increase in the number of so-called 'date rape' cases which are harder to prosecute.A spokesman for the Home Office said it was 'determined' to close the gap between the number of reported rapes and the number of convictions secured.

[ guardian.co.uk

28. July 2005

UK

in einem bericht des prison reform trust über den knast rye hill steht u.a. : " dieses gefängnis scheint nicht von einer privatfirma geleitet zu werden sondern von den gefangenen selbst".

Inmates rule roost at private jail

A private prison was yesterday described as "unsafe", with prisoners bullying staff, and drugs, knives and alcohol freely available.The inspection report into Rye Hill prison, near Rugby, was described by the Prison Reform Trust as "one of the most damning reports of a prison we have seen".The trust's director, Juliet Lyon, said: "This prison appears to be run not by a private company, but by the prisoners themselves."The chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, said Rye Hill had deteriorated to the extent that, at the time of inspection, it was "an unsafe and unstable environment".

Inspectors found inexperienced staff on a wing of 70 unlocked prisoners, "surviving by ignoring misbehaviour or evidence of illicit possessions". They also witnessed evidence of staff being bullied by prisoners.In the period immediately before the inspection, in April, the jail, holding 600 serious offenders, had experienced an apparently self-inflicted death in the segregation unit. A hostage was taken and there had been a 100% rise in the number of assaults against staff, at a time when assault figures are down across the service.

Staff and prisoners told inspectors that managers at the jail gave no support to custody staff and were rarely seen on the wings when prisoners were unlocked. The report also highlighted failings in the race relations programme at the jail. An analysis of use of force data shown to inspectors revealed that 57% of all recorded use of force involved black or ethnic minority prisoners, yet that group accounted for only 37% of the jail's population.There had been instances of gang activity and after the death of an inmate, during the inspection, 36 prisoners were moved to other jails. Three men were later charged with the murder of Wayne Reid, 44, from Birmingham. Mr Reid was due to be released a few days after he died.

Monitoring North monitors treatment of people in custody. Its spokesperson, Ruggie Johnson, said the organisation had been inundated with calls from concerned relatives of men in Rye Hill."Mothers of young men have been telling us for months that their sons were not safe in that prison," he said. "It is clear that those in charge at Rye Hill are not capable of maintaining order and we call on the Home Office to hold an investigation into the allegations that have emerged from this report."

[ guardian.co.uk

28. July 2005

UK

What goes up ...

(The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column, Friday July 29 2005
In the leader below we gave a figure of 58,000 prisoners on remand. This is the number of prisoners remanded in one year. The number of prisoners who are on remand at present is about 12,800.)

The prison population has resumed its relentless rise. At 76,500 it is already at its highest ever total. This should not have come as a surprise but it seems to have been one to Home Office planners. This week the department recognised that the acceleration since February has pushed the numbers 2,700 ahead of official projections. There has been too much complacency about the brief period of stability in the prison population that occurred last year. Undoubtedly one factor causing the rise was the tough rhetoric of all the major parties in the run-up to the May election. As criminologists have documented, hardline atmospheres prompt judges to lengthen their sentences. The cacophony drowned the earlier wise words of the most senior judge in the country, Lord Bingham: "Everybody thinks our system is becoming soft and wimpish. In point of fact it's one of the most punitive in the world."

Now prison numbers could exceed 91,000 within five years unless radical action is taken. This is not alarmist talk. The prison population took four decades to increase by 11,000 between 1951 and 1991, but climbed by 25,000 in the decade between 1992 and 2002. Even more worrying, the rise coincided with the most sustained fall in crime for 100 years. Despite the urgings of Lord Bingham, judges have become more punitive. But there is now a new voice on the block - the sentencing guidelines council, headed by Lord Woolf - which urged courts to cut sentences by 15% in line with "more demanding" early release conditions that came in to effect in April. This would be a good first step.

The need now is for political leadership and a readiness to recognise three big shortcomings: too many nonviolent offenders, many mentally ill, still getting short and unproductive sentences; too many offenders caught by the new mandatory sentencing system; and too many unconvicted remands (58,000, a fifth of whom are found not guilty). Rising prison numbers can be halted. Fifteen years ago a Conservative home secretary reduced prison numbers by 5,000. Charles Clarke should now do the same.

[ guardian.co.uk

27. July 2005

UK

Reduced sentences to curb prison boom

Senior judges will tell courts to reduce terms by 15% as jail population heads towards record 91,000

Senior judges are to urge the courts to cut average sentences by 15% in the hope of preventing the prison population soaring to more than 91,000 within five years, it emerged yesterday.Home Office ministers were forced yesterday to revise upwards their projections for prison numbers after the population inside Britain's jails reached a new record of 76,506 last Friday.Prison numbers stabilised last year and the Home Office had been hoping that the recent rapid growth would plateau at 80,000.

But the total has accelerated since February and is now running 2,700 ahead of projections.Home Office figures published yesterday show that since the autumn the courts have become increasingly punitive with the average sentence length increasing by 6% to just over 17 months.This has been compounded since April by a continuous increase in the numbers held on remand awaiting trial.

Ministers had hoped that new measures to boost the use of community punishments in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act would temper the rise in the prison population.The projections make clear that the Home Office is banking on the new sentencing guidelines council, chaired by the lord chief justice, Lord Woolf, being able to persuade the courts to cut the sentences passed on those sent to prison for one year or longer by 15%.

The revised prison projections say that this is the minimum necessary just to hit a best-case scenario of holding prison numbers to 77,380 by 2010. The worst case scenario says the prison population will hit 91,500 within five years - 3,000 higher than the last projections published in January.

Juliet Lyon of the Prison Reform Trust said ministers had been lulled into a false sense of security."The stark reality is that over 80 jails are now overcrowded, with many at bust limit, prison numbers are spiralling out of control, conditions are deteriorating and there is a corresponding shocking rise in the number of self-inflicted deaths in custody," she said."Budget cuts, low staffing levels and a service demoralised by threats of privatisation is a toxic mix undermining basic decency and prison safety."

The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, Mark Oaten, said that the government's target of keeping prison numbers below 80,000 now appeared to be a lost cause."If numbers continue to grow at the rate we have seen this year, the prison system will soon be in deep crisis," he said."Jails are supposed to cut crime through education and training. Chronic overcrowding means prisoners are idling their time away in their cells instead."

Mr Oaten claimed that the Home Office kept changing its mind on whether it wanted judges and magistrates to give longer or shorter prison sentences.But the shadow home secretary, David Davis, said the figures showed that there were not enough prison places to keep up with the increase in the prison population and claimed that the government's response of expanding the early release scheme was no answer.

[ guardian.co.uk

19. July 2005

UK / SCOTLAND

laut des artikels sind die haftbedingungen besser geworden.dieser bezieht sich dabei audf den Prison Service Anual Report. Weiter unten kannst du diesen runterladen.

Prison conditions improving: report

Prison conditions are improving with more inmates leaving with prospects for a crime-free future, according to a new report.The Prison Service annual report shows that during 2004-5 it met a record 12 out of 16 targets, including for serious assaults and jail overcrowding for the first time.The report, covering prisons in England and Wales, also shows that there have now been no Category A prisoner escapes for 10 years.

The overall escape rate from prisons and prison escort vans was 0.03% of the prisoner population, against a target of 0.05%The overcrowding rate - the percentage of the prisoner population held in accommodation units intended for fewer prisoners - was 23.7% against a target of 24%.The level of serious assaults on staff, prisoners and others fell to 1.47% of the average prison population from the previous year's level of 1.54%.

In total, 37,733 prisoners discharged from custody had a job, training or education place within a month, against a target of 34,890.The Service also met its targets for programmes for offending behaviour, sex offender treatment and drug treatment as well as on education.

However it missed four other targets. The rate of positive results from random drug tests was 11.6% against a target of 10%.The rate of self-inflicted deaths was 121 per 100,000 of the prison population, against a target of 112.8 per 100,000.

[ icscotland.icnetwork.co.uk

Here you can download the full Prison Service Annual Report published - 19 Jul 05. the third and fourth part are appendices like statistics and something like that.

[ Annual Report and Accounts April 2004-March 2005

[ Main Priorities for 2004-2005

[ appendices 1-5

[ appendices 6-8

15. July 2005

UK / SOTLAND

die zahl der jugendlichen straftäter ist um 5% gestiegen

Executive fails to stop teenage criminals from reoffending

MOST Scottish councils are failing to make any progress towards meeting targets on cutting youth crime - with new figures showing a 5 per cent rise in the number of persistent young offenders.Seventeen of Scotland's 32 local authorities saw a rise in the number of serious trouble-makers this year, according to data published yesterday by the Executive.Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister called the figures "disappointing" and accused councils of failing to get to grips with the problem.

She also moved to scrap a fast-track children's hearing scheme piloted in six councils, diverting its �4.5 million budget towards youth crime prevention initiatives.Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader at Holyrood called the figures "woeful"."In Ms Jamieson's own back yard of East Ayrshire, the number of persistent young offenders rose by a staggering 100 per cent," said Ms Sturgeon."The minister should spend less time trying to pass the buck and more time addressing this worrying development."

Ms Jamieson had set councils a March 2006 target for reducing by 120 the number of persistent young offenders, which stood at 1,201 in 2004. But the latest figure shows the total has gone up by 59 - 5 per cent - to 1,260.Fourteen councils - fewer than half - achieved reductions of between 4 per cent and 50 per cent in the number of persistent young offenders, defined as 15 and under who commit at least five offences in six months.

One council - Inverclyde - saw no change in its figures.

East Ayrshire saw a doubling in the number of persistent young offenders from 26 to 52, while Falkirk saw its total rise from 37 to 64, and North Ayrshire's total rose from 46 to 64.Glasgow saw the number of its persistent young offenders fall from 219 to 210, Edinburgh saw its number rise from 89 to 90, Dundee saw its number fall from 109 to 93, and Aberdeen saw its total fall from 41 to 35.Ms Jamieson said: "Today's performance update shows that 14 local authority areas have made welcome progress in reducing the number of persistent young offenders."They are using the extra money, staff and programmes to step up action and step in to turn around troubled young lives - providing much-needed relief to communities as a result."

But she went on: "Other areas still need to make significant improvements - and that is disappointing given that the Executive has invested more than �100 million to support youth justice programmes in the last two years."For every success there is at least one area failing to achieve national performance standards in this area."The children's hearing fast-track scheme was introduced in February 2003 in Dundee, East Lothian, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and Scottish Borders.But although 300 young people had moved through the system, an assessment of the pilot found its effect on reducing offending was "unproven".

The performance figures will increase pressure on councils to use ASBOs on young offenders, a power extended to local authorities in April.The Executive has already threatened to cut council funding for anti-youth crime projects if local authorities refuse to use anti-social behaviour orders on children.CoSLA, the umbrella group for Scottish local authorities, said that it welcomed the progress made by some councils in tackling persistent young offenders.

[ scotsman.com

08. July 2005

UK

mehr als 700 menschen wurden seit dem 11.9.2001 nach dem neuen terrorismusgesetz festgenommen, davon wurde die hälfte entlassen ohne jede anklage, verurteilt wurden 17, darunter 3 deren anklagen wegen verdachts des islamischen extremismus waren.

700 arrests; 17 convictions

Since September 11, Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, MI5 and a raft of other security agencies have played a cat and mouse game with potential terrorists sympathetic to the al-Qaida cause.Hundreds of suspects, many of them young Muslim men, have been arrested and the police claim to have broken up several terrorist cells and networks. The government has invested millions in extra security officers and intelligence systems.

But police, spy chiefs and ministers have repeatedly emphasised that it was inevitable that the UK would be successfully targeted by the terrorists.After the 2001 attacks on America, a wide-ranging review of how Islamist terrorism is tackled in the UK was undertaken. A new network of police counter-terrorism security advisers was set up and enhanced security at ports and airports was introduced; more guidance was given to industry and institutions and legislative changes were made; MI5 has already begun a recruitment campaign to increase its size by 50% to 3,000 staff by 2008.

Security experts were in no doubt that members of al-Qaida were in the UK, not only planning attacks but supporting British-based terrorist groups by raising money, putting together equipment, producing false documents and providing training.Some of these al-Qaida members, according to MI5, had received military and specialist terrorist training in camps overseas, for example in Afghanistan. Relationships forged in these camps, MI5 believed, formed the basis of loose networks of terrorists who can operate outside structured organisations.

More than 700 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act since September 11, but half have been released without charge and only 17 convicted. Only three of the convictions relate to allegations of Islamist extremism.There have also been apparent false alarms, notably a report last year claiming that Canary Wharf was a target and one in 2004 alleging that Manchester United's Old Trafford ground was threatened.Some Muslims have expressed anger at the arrests, claiming their communities were being unfairly picked on.

Still, the police and MI5 say they have thwarted several attacks. In August 2004, for example, the police made "significant" arrests. Eight men were charged with terrorism-related offences and are awaiting trial.

Recently concluded trials at the Old Bailey have presented examples of the two different types of operative. In April, a former grammar school pupil, Saajid Badat, 25, who became radicalised by the killing of Muslims in Bosnia, was jailed for 13 years for planning to set off a shoe bomb on a passenger plane bound for the US. Badat had spent two years in camps in Afghanistan. Another failed shoe bomber, Richard Reid, who was arrested in December 2001, was also British-born.The other type was epitomised by Kamel Bourgass, an Algerian who was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in April for the murder of Detective Constable Stephen Oake in Manchester. Bourgass, also trained in Afghanistan, had been plotting a ricin poison attack.

Shaun Gregory, the head of the department of peace studies at Bradford University, said the number of coordinated attacks yesterday meant that quite a large group had to be involved. "If they are British-born it is incredible that the security services have not heard that something was being planned. And if they are from abroad, questions will be asked about how they got in through airports or ports."

Mr Gregory said the attacks would have huge implications for the Muslim population of the UK. "The issue of how young men are being radicalised will become of vital importance" he said.Before yesterday, MI5 had pointed out that there had been attacks on UK interests based overseas, such as the British consulate and HSBC in Istanbul in November 2003.

After the Madrid bombings in March last year, the security services feared that "soft" targets such as transport systems in the UK could be next. Yesterday their fears were realised.

[ guardian.co.uk

[ zurück ]

NEWS AROUND PRISON AND LAW / UNITED KINGDOM

vom 30. December 2005

Gerichte verschicken Drohungen per Handy

23. December 2005

State of surveillance

22. Dezember 2005

Now Executive warns: no smoking at home Public asked not to light up before visits from public sector workers

22. Dezember 2005

Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey

Jedes Fahrzeug wird identifiziert

In Großbritannien wird mit Tausenden von Kameras zur Nummernerkennung ein nationales Überwachungssystem für die Bewegung von Fahrzeugen aufgebaut

18 December 2005

There is Nowhere to hide

An array of over 300 CCTV cameras keep Scotland�s most violent city under 24-hour surveillance. Rachelle Money visits the nerve centre as festive revellers take to the streets

16 Dezember 2005

Enemies of the state? Police fail even to question men held as a terror threat

8. Dezember 2005

British Court Rules Against Evidence Gained in Torture

20 November 2005

RIOT squad ready for UDA prison violence

6. November 2005

Almost one in three of Scotland's female prisoners in jail for shoplifting

24.October 2005

Scottish Police get new powers to target sex offenders

21. October 2005

UNITED KINGDOM

Shot dead by police 30. Officers convicted 0 No charges for policemen who killed man carrying table leg

14. October 2005

Zimbabwean wins asylum test case

15. October 2005

Row over empty former prison ship

10. October 2005

New riot weapons designed to be 'non-lethal'

8. October 2005

Intelligence gathering to take place in Scottish classrooms

7. October 2005

Prisoners to get vote after European court ruling

Convicts 'will not all get vote'

4. October 2005

Protesters as Criminals

5. October 2005

Wooden staves used in migrant detention centres

27. September 2005

Gefängnis schafft Biometrie wieder ab

Prisoners unpick hi-tech lock system

14. September 2005

UK / SCOTLAND

Reliance loses contract for tagging offenders

11. September 2005

Probe after police shoot man dead

5. September 2005

Clerics could face jail for overseeing forced marriages

29. August 2005

CRIMINALS slash their jail terms by pleading guilty

27 August 2005

FBI-style agency for Scotland to help combat drugs and fraud

14. August 2005

Closer supervision for offenders

12. August 2005

Hooligan laws tightening unveiled

11. August 2005

Explosion at prison holding al-Qaida suspect

Jail explosion 'aimed to embarrass'

10. august 2005

Group warns of overcrowded English jails

10. August 2005

*Rough justice*

3. August 2005

Prison failure leaves taxpayer with �44m bill

July 2005

UK

31. July 2005

UK

Law failing rape victims, says QC

28. July 2005

UK

Inmates rule roost at private jail

28. July 2005

UK

What goes up ...

Now Executive warns: no smoking at home
Public asked not to light up before visits from public sector workers

Shot dead by police 30. Officers convicted 0
No charges for policemen who killed man carrying table leg

Rough justice