LawyerI G SocialistMagazine of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers Number 45 December 2006 £2.50

Prison crisis Michael Mansfield, Piers Mostyn & Laura Janes on ‘Gulag Britain’

TONY BENN THE YASMIN SADAT SAYEED BILL BOWRING LAW, SOCIETY KHAN JEAN GUANTANAMO: DO ‘TERROR’ AND A NEW CHARLES DE WORK BEHIND SUSPECTS’ WORLD ORDER MENEZES THE SCENES HAVE RIGHTS? HaldaneSocietyof SocialistLawyers PO Box 57055, London EC1P 1AF Contents Website: www.haldane.org Number 45 December2006 ISBN 09 54 3635 The Haldane Society was founded in 1930. It provides a forum for the discussion and News & comment ...... 4 analysis of law and the legal system, both From the Philippines to Turkey, Shrewsbury to Lebanon, AGM to Jack Straw nationally and internationally, from a socialist perspective. It holds frequent public Keeping it in the family ...... 11 meetings and conducts educational Young Legal Aid Lawyers’ regular column from Laura Janes programmes. The Haldane Society is independent of any Reiding between the lines ...... 12 political party. Membership comprises Michael Mansfield QC on the prisons crisis lawyers, academics, students and legal workers as well as trade union and labour Are we heading for ‘Gulag Britain’?...... 14 movement affiliates. Piers Mostyn catalogues the parlous state of our penal policy President: Michael Mansfield QC Vice Presidents: Kader Asmal; Children in need ...... 17 Louise Christian; Jack Gaster; Tess Gill; Laura Janes on the horrifying scale of young people in custody in the UK today Helena Kennedy QC; Dr. Paul O’Higgins; Michael Seifert; David Turner-Samuels; Guantánamo: five years on ...... 18 Professor Lord Wedderburn QC On his return from a three-month fellowship, Sadat Sayeed reports from New York Chair: Liz Davies ([email protected]) Vice-Chair: Richard Harvey ([email protected]) Secretary: Marcus Joyce ([email protected]) Socialist Lawyer Editor: Rebekah Wilson ([email protected]) Treasurer: Declan Owens ([email protected]) International Secretary: Bill Bowring ([email protected]) Membership Secretary: Azam Zia ([email protected]) Executive Committee: John Beckley; Adrian Berry; Tom Bradford; Cat Briddick; Hannah Brooks; Kat Craig; Christina Gordon; Fiona Harvey; John Hobson; Ashok Kanani; Catrin Lewis; Stephen Marsh; Monika Pirani; Alex Gask; Adam Straw; Nick Toms; Hannah Uglow; Chris Williams Regional Contacts: Rise and fall of legal aid ...... 24 I West Midlands: Brian Nott, Flat 3, Kat Craig warns us of the imminent end of legal aid after the Carter Report 64 Prospect Road, Mosley, Birmingham B13 9TD Justice for Jean ...... 28 I Manchester: John Hobson Yasmin Khan writes, from the Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign ([email protected]) Sub-committees ‘Won by struggle’...... 30 I Crime: Richard Harvey Tony Benn, guest speaker at the Haldane AGM, with extracts from his talk ([email protected]) Books...... I Employment: Daniel Blackburn 34 ([email protected]) Books on women in the law, immigration control and Moazzam Begg’s story I International: Bill Bowring Editor: Rebekah Wilson Assisted by: Liz Davies, Farah Wise, ([email protected]) Richard Harvey I Immigration and Asylum: Adrian Berry Design & Production: Smith+Bell Design ([email protected]) ([email protected]) Printed by: The Russell Press Cover picture: Janet Evans Many thanks to all our contributors and members who have helped with this issue

2 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 from the chair

Who’s out of touch?

y kind of justice is swift, effective and matches the Britain, most progressive lawyers spend their time on publicly funded crime” says John Reid. In Reid’s world, justice does- cases – ranging from the ground-breaking test case to the more rou- n’t involve that minor and troublesome detail of going tine, but just as significant for the individual involved, criminal defence, to Court. Far better to resolve disputes on a dark housing advice, immigration advice or representation in child care night, down a quiet alley, perhaps with a few swift proceedings. Without publicly funded lawyers, there will be more mis- and“M effective punches. carriages of justice, more evictions at whim, more asylum seekers ’s valedictory Queen’s Speech contains everything that a deported to face torture or imprisonment, and more children removed vigilante could desire. The Fraud (Trials Without Jury) from their parents without proper Court scrutiny. Bill does just what it says on the tin: it abolishes those inconvenient The Carter proposals “Legal Aid Reform: the way ahead” threaten creatures called juries. You may have a sense of déjà vu: New Labour that work. The Government makes no bones about it: “legal aid reform” has been trying to abolish trial by jury in one form or another since means cuts in the actual resources available. Fixed fees are about 1997. Until recently, every attempt failed. But, buried away in the reducing costs. The Government hopes that the public won’t turn out to Criminal Justice Act 2003, is the abolition of trial by jury in cases of seri- defend fat cat legal aid lawyers. ous fraud. Even then, it was so controversial that Labour could only per- Most legal aid lawyers are already thin, under-nourished cats. If the suade enough of its backbenchers to vote for it by promising another Carter proposals are adopted, very few legal aid solicitors will be able Parliamentary vote before implementation. This is the implementing to carry on making a living. And, in the world of criminal defence, hous- vote and, shamefully, its second reading was passed on 29 November ing, parents facing the removal of their children, there isn’t exactly a rich with only a handful of Labour rebels lining up with the Opposition to private client group to turn to, to subsidise the loss-making publicly vote against. funded cases. The Haldane Society opposes these proposals, not for Other legislative proposals continue the theme of handing our own sake, but because ordinary people who can’t afford legal fees unchecked power to the executive. The immigration service is to have will lose the opportunity of specialist legal advice and representation. greater powers “to police borders”. Expect more asylum seekers to Kat Craig, from Young Legal Aid Lawyers and the Haldane Society, be locked up without due process. The police are to have greater sets out the Government’s agenda and what we can do to resist it. powers to police “serious and organised crime”. Expect those powers Human rights, justice, due process, equal treatment before the law to be extended to police the rest of us sooner or later. are not some natural phenomenon. In a speech to the Haldane And police powers to evict – without the messy business of obtaining Society’s Annual General Meeting, Tony Benn reminded us that democ- a Court order – will be extended from existing closure notices and clo- racy and civil liberties – which we so often take for granted – are the sure orders (for premises where the police suspect drug dealing or product of centuries of struggle, against feudalism, against Empire and prostitution), to cases of “noise” and “anti-social behaviour” in general. nowadays against the neo-conservatives running America and Britain. This issue of Socialist Lawyer explores the human rights abuses that For sure, progressive lawyers have been and remain part of those inevitably occur when power is in the hands of the executive, struggles. But human rights will not be defended solely by legal chal- unchecked by the Courts. lenges, important though these are. We need the public on our side. Piers Mostyn, Mike Mansfield QC and Laura Janes write devastat- In announcing his proposals, John Reid acknowledged that his idea ing critiques of New Labour’s penal policy: more and heavier prison of justice is not “what a lawyer or legal academic might think” justice sentences result in more vulnerable prisoners, more overcrowding, is. He claims that his is the voice of common sense, the ordinary chap fewer rights, and a higher rate of re-offending in the street, and that only out-of-touch at the end. lawyers insist on Court proceedings. The Yasmin Khan, from the Justice4Jean Haldane Society thinks John Reid is wrong. Campaign, writes of the Menezes family’s dif- We believe that, however much the major ficult struggle to obtain justice, and to bring political parties and the media attack human Jean Charles de Menezes’ murderers to rights and civil liberties, however many account. And Sadat Sayeed, recently media storms are whipped up, most people returned from working on the Guantánamo believe that, if arrested for a crime they did- Global Justice Initiative, sets out in clinical n’t commit, they would want to be tried by a and distressing detail the inhuman and jury. If facing eviction, they would prefer a degrading treatment routinely practised on Judge to decide rather than the police turn- the inmates of Guantánamo Bay. ing up at 3am with an immediate eviction The job of progressive lawyers is to use notice. If claiming asylum, they would want the law to check the power of the executive, a fair hearing. If facing devastation of their to force the Courts to maintain basic stan- family life through the removal of a child, they dards of human rights and civil liberties. would want to be properly represented. We Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose. believe that it is John Reid who is out of There are progressive lawyers all over the touch. world – Sadat Sayeed describes working G Liz Davies, chair, with a number of them in New York – and Haldane Society

many give their time and expertise free. In [email protected] Picture: / reportdigital.co.uk Jess Hurd

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 3 News&Comment

Arroyo declared a state of national emergency, and ordered Women lawyers investigate rising the military and police to quash public dissent. The government justified the emergency proclama- repression in the Philippines tion by stating that it had foiled a supposed coup plot that it hree women lawyers claimed had been planned by an travelled to the unlikely alliance of right-wing Philippines in May on a military adventurists, Communist Thuman rights fact finding armed insurgents, and legal pro- mission organised by GABRIELA gressive political organisations. Network USA and hosted in the As part of this order, Arroyo Philippines by GABRIELA, the revoked all permits for demon- national alliance of women’s strations. Next day, police organisations, and Gabriela arrested 73-year-old Anakpawis Women’s Party. The delegation (Toiling Masses) party-list was called in response to the Congressman Crispin Beltran and recent State of Emergency, esca- attempted to arrest Liza Maza lated killings of workers, women, and the other four progressive and activists, and the charges of Representatives: Satur Ocampo, “rebellion” lodged against six Joel Virador and Teodoro Casiño progressive party-list members of Soldiers carry out a violent dispersal of protestors in Manila of Bayan Muna; and Rafael Congress (known collectively as Mariano of Anakpawis. the ‘Batasan 6’), and other pro- military campaign to end the 37- marginalised and underrepre- A former Marcos detainee, Ka gressive leaders. year-old armed leftist insurgency. sented sectors in a Congress Bel has been detained by Arroyo The six progressive members During our short stay in the which is overwhelmingly domi- ever since 25th February, for of Congress and the people’s Philippines the death toll contin- nated by the elite and political most of this in a hospital room organisations they represent have ued to rise. Just as we arrived on clans. Despite their small number, due to serious health problems. led the call for the impeachment 26th May, Noel Noli Capulong, a the six progressive party-list rep- The other five legislators were of President Gloria Macapagal- regional coordinator of Bayan resentatives have been successful forced to take sanctuary inside Arroyo, widely perceived in the Muna, was killed. Bayan Muna in defeating, delaying or diluting the House of Representatives Philippines as a US puppet who (People First) is a major coalition many of Arroyo’s anti-people building (the Batasan), sleeping gained re-election in 2004 by of worker’s and progressive measures. At the same time, they on office floors for more than fraud. Under the Arroyo govern- organisations which holds three have been able to make improve- two months. Although the State ment, a key partner in the US party-list seats in Congress, and ments for the people. Gabriela of Emergency was rescinded on ‘war on terror’, human rights vio- Capulong was its 95th member to Women’s Party representative 3rd March, and on 8th May the lations are reaching a level similar be killed since 2001. Liza Maza has succeeded in pass- five legislators were able to leave to the Marcos era. The rebellion Then on 29th May, as our del- ing for the first time a critical the Batasan, two rebellion cases charges against progressives based egation observed a hearing con- Anti-Trafficking in Persons and were filed, one against Ka Bel, in the capital are just one compo- cerning the rebellion case, news of Children Act and an Anti- and the other against all six nent of Arroyo’s systematic cam- another death spread through the Violence Against Women and party-list legislators plus 45 other paign to eradicate dissent. court. One of the defendants, Children Act. Additionally, she is leaders of legal organisations, Activists, progressive lawyers and Sotero ‘Ka Teroy’ Llamas, had sponsoring a bill which would some leaders of underground left judges, human rights workers, been killed by two assassins, introduce divorce to the organisations, and some rebel and journalists are being gunned becoming the 607th victim. Philippines, and other important military officers. The charging down by motorcycle-riding, mili- The Philippines instituted an legislation and community pro- documents allege that the legisla- tary death squads. At the same electoral ‘party-list’ system in jects advancing the specific con- tors and the other above-ground time, with the backing of the US, 1998, with the stated goal of cerns of women. leaders of progressive party-list the government is unleashing a increasing the representation of On 24th February, President organisations such as Bayan August 1: A confidential internal Police and 1: Britain’s three most senior 12: The Government announces that 16: Muslim Council of Britain Prison Service report leaked to the Judges rule that the Home Diplock courts, the non-jury trials in which warn the government they risk BBC says there are at least 1,000 Secretary’s ‘virtual house arrest’ thousands of Northern Ireland terrorist alienating the Muslim community corrupt prison officers who smuggle powers are incompatible with suspects have been tried since 1973, are after reports that the Department of drugs and mobile phones into human rights law. The Appeal Court to be abolished by next summer. But the Transport was consulting the prisons and that another 500 staff are judges dismissed a plea from John DPP will have the sole power of discretion aviation industry over possibly involved in ‘inappropriate Reid to overturn an earlier High as to which cases should be heard without introducing a method of relationships’ with inmates. The Court decision to squash the control juries since judge-only trials will be passenger profiling which could report warns that the problem is orders against six Iraqis, which retained for ‘exceptional’ cases where be used to single out Muslims for growing. included a daily 18-hour curfew. juries could still be intimidated. security checks.

4 Socialist Lawyer December 2006 News&Comment

Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela leased from prison and returned Women’s Party are actually lead- to the UK six weeks after the ers of the Communist Party of the AGM. The second emergency Philippines (CPP) – in league with motion welcomed the formation the armed struggle and who plot- of the Justice for the Shrewsbury ted a coup in conspiracy with Pickets organisation and agreed rebel military officers. to support them in pursuit of a From our discussion with the public inquiry into the miscar- defense lawyers, it was clear that riages of justice and their victim- even given the limited indepen- ization by the state. dence of the Philippine judiciary, On vacating the chair of the the evidence is so weak that the Society after two years, Richard rebellion prosecution will ulti- Harvey recalled a number of mately fail. Arroyo’s government’s highlights, including the tri- aim is while the case slowly umphant 75th Anniversary and wends its way through the highly the star-studded lecture series, a inefficient Philippine court sys- powerful precedent which we tem, publicity will hurt the pro- One of the highlights of the year has been the relaunch of our website will repeat in 2007. Socialist gressive movement’s chances in Lawyer goes from strength to the 2007 elections and diminish strength thanks to Rebekah its ability to engage the Arroyo Wilson, Andy Smith and our ex- regime in the political main- High Society as AGM gears cellent editorial board. We will stream. intensify our campaign against Despite these dire circum- up for the coming year the Guantánamo illegal hell-hole stances, we could not help but be under the banner: “Close it inspired by the optimism and Down; Bring them Home.” unity of the Philippine movement here was standing room Richard Harvey (Vice-Chair); Thanks to our newly upgraded and by the dedicated Filipino only at this year’s Declan Owens (Treasurer); Azam website we are in an ever human rights lawyers who perse- Annual General Meet- Zia (Membership Secretary); Bill stronger position to give the vere despite rampant judicial cor- Ting of the Haldane Soci- Bowring (International Secretary) lead, not just in defending the ruption, along with harassment, ety. Membership has increased Rebekah Wilson (Editor Socialist Human Rights Act but in ex- threats, attempts on their lives, by 10% over the past year and Lawyer); Marcus Joyce (Secre- tending it. and a number of their colleagues our increased profile may have tary); John Beckley; Adrian In conclusion, Richard said: being killed. helped to fill the room. However, Berry; Hannah Rought Brooks; “The Haldane Society must give During our five days in the in all modesty, we must ac- Kat Craig; Fiona Harvey; the lead, not just in defending Philippines, the delegation held knowledge that it is just possible Monica Pirani; Adam Straw. the Human Rights Act but in ex- press conferences, appeared on that the choice of keynote An amendment to the Soci- tending it. We must continue to cable TV, spoke at a public forum speaker (see Tony Benn’s speech ety’s constitution was passed challenge illegal wars, especially at a law school, and received tons in this issue) had some impact on unanimously, that four weeks’ when our own government bears of Philippine media attention. attendance! It was also particu- notice be required for the hold- criminal responsibility for insti- Our trip was a stepping stone for larly inspiring to see so many ing an AGM, with ordinary mo- gating them. And we must also increased international interaction young lawyers and law students tions to be communicated to the rise to the challenge of the kind to help counter the repression. A rallying to the cause and we are Secretary two weeks before the of world we want to leave to our comprehensive report on our grateful to the support of Young AGM. Two emergency motions children. They have the human findings, distributed at the United Legal Aid Lawyers, on whose were passed unanimously: first, right to a healthy environment; Nations and numerous legal and behalf Kat Craig also addressed calling on President Musharraf to social, economic and cultural human rights organisations can the meeting. of Pakistan to reprieve Mirza justice. In the midst of global be found at: www.nlg.org The elections to the Haldane Tahir Hussain, then under sen- warming, we cannot allow For more information contact Executive Committee were as fol- tence of death. We are happy to Britain to become a cold house Merrilyn at [email protected] lows: Liz Davies (Chairperson); report that Mr. Hussain was re- for full human rights.” September 18: The is drawing 7: European Union’s highest court declares that 13: Cressida Dick, the 13: The Government’s experts on drug up plans to forcibly repatriate up Britain breached politically sensitive working-time officer who was in policy recommend a much tougher drink- to 500 children to Vietnam as part rules and had failed to ensure that workers were command of the firearms drive limit for young drivers and a higher of a programme that could see given proper breaks. The European Court of team that shot dead legal age at which cigarettes can be thousands of minors sent back to Justice said Britain’s official guidelines on the Jean Charles de bought. They want drink-driving limit for countries where they were born. directive only advise employers to ensure that Menezes is promoted drivers under 25 to be cut by nearly 40%, The trial run of Vietnamese workers ‘can’ take their rest. The Department of from commander to and say it is time to raise the legal age for children is part of a plan to remove Trade and Industry, which ‘transposed’ the EU deputy assistant buying tobacco from 16 to 18 and ensure failed asylum-seeking children directive into British law, must go further and make commissioner n the that the underage drinking and smoking who have no family in Britain. certain that employers ensure staff ‘do’ take breaks. Metropolitan police. laws are much more strictly enforced.

Socialist Lawyer December 2006 5 News&Comment

Don’t be ‘different’ under New Labour

elena Kennedy argues Woolas and even Blair weighing that New Labour has in against the primary school stolen and subverted teacher who wanted to wear her Hfeminist arguments. niqab at school. It used to be just New Labour attacks the rights of the BNP upbraiding minorities defendants facing criminal trials for an alleged failure to fit in; by using a “rights of victims” now New Labour and the Tories rhetoric. The language is based have made it mainstream. on feminist campaigns from the The implication has worked. 1970s and 1980s when we were Assaults against Muslims and at- arguing that the criminal justice tacks on mosques are on the in- system didn’t support women’s crease. And it allows the police complaints of rape or domestic and security services to paint violence. Muslims as legitimate targets, A similar abuse of feminism thus justifying racial and religious has been used to justify the “war profiling that targets Asians and on terror”. After 9/11, Bush and others whom the police perceive Blair suddenly discovered that as Muslim. Asians are far more women were being abused in likely to be stopped and searched Afghanistan. fa- under anti-terrorist laws than mously mocked the burqa. anyone else, and that disparity in- Jack Straw: should be ashamed Women’s rights had become a creased dramatically after the 7th pretext for invasion. July bombings and again after the Straw’s attacks on the niqab government’s head. Now Jack Straw attempts to arrests on 10th August this year. might have more resonance if the As a feminist, I abhor the appeal to secular and feminist Asians, or dark-skinned people government actively supported niqab and the burqa. I don’t just values by attacking the niqab. whom the police might perceive women who resist wearing it. feel uncomfortable when I see Women covering their face make as Muslims, are more likely to be Provide more money for refuges women wearing them; I feel him feel uncomfortable, he says. shot and even killed by the police, for women fleeing domestic vio- angry. Unlike Jack Straw, I’m After 27 years of representing as we know from Forest Gate and lence, help them enforce their angry for the woman herself; not Muslim women and men as Jean Charles de Menezes. rights to their children. Instead of because I might be discomforted Blackburn’s MP, Straw has Reid is threatening to re-intro- listening to Muslim feminist or embarrassed. Wearing the chosen this moment publicly to duce to Parliament a period of de- voices (and they exist), the gov- niqab and covering your face in announce his discomfort. tention without charge for longer ernment prefers to treat Muslims public confines your individual- There has been a regular drip- than the current controversial and as a homogenous community. It ism to the private, domestic drip-drip from government minis- unjustifiable 28 days. How much listens to the overwhelmingly sphere. It’s completely different to ters implying that Muslims are easier his job might be if Mus- male leadership’s demands for wearing the hijab, which doesn’t outside the permitted limits of di- lims, the likely victims of long pe- Muslim faith schools. The idea restrict your ability to play a versity and have to get their act riods of police detention, are that there might be Muslim femi- public role in any way. together if they are to be accepted widely perceived as different to nists, or Muslim lesbians or gay Wearing the niqab in public, by the rest of us. Reid’s warning the rest of us, and perhaps less en- men, who want to maintain their women are anonymous; they to Muslim parents to watch their titled to human rights and the faith and also assert their identi- have no discernible identity. It

Pictures: / reportdigital.co.uk Jess Hurd children, Straw’s comments, Phil protection of law. ties, does not seem to enter the creates practical difficulties when September 15: Two peace activists, Paul 18: Black people are more likely to 20: The Met enters a 20: Corporal Donald Payne 22: Director of Public Milling and Margaret Jones walk face criminal charges when caught plea of not guilty to a pleads guilty at a court martial Prosecutions Ken Macdonald free from Bristol carrying cannabis than white charge that it failed in that he abused prisoners at a backs calls by Attorney after jury fail to reach verdict on people committing the same its duty of care to Jean detention centre in southern General Lord Goldsmith for charges of conspiracy to cause offence, according to a Scotland Charles de Menezes Iraq, but denies manslaughter the removal of the ban on criminal damage. They argued Yard study of new drugs laws. They who was shot dead at and intending to pervert he using phone-tap evidence in they were justified in disabling are also far more likely to be Stockwell tube station, course of justice. One civilian, court. Goldsmith spoke out trailers used to transport bombs caught in possession because after being mistaken Baha Mousa was killed and for the change from the US for US jetsin order to prevent war there is a greater likelihood of them for a terrorist. others tortured whilst being after meetings with American crimes in Iraq. being stopped and searched. held in custody. officials and the FBI.

6 Socialist Lawyer December 2006 News&Comment

choose to wear it. However, at this moment, in this place, some women do choose Blair complicit in war crime to wear the niqab. Sometimes it’s not their free choice: it’s directly in Lebanon, say protesters forced upon them by male rela- tives. Those women should be supported and empowered to ver 100,000 people “The other day, I was in Down- resist that force. But there are took to the streets of ing Street handing in a petition enough women who choose to London on 5th August against replacing Trident, and I wear it for varied and complex Oto demand an end to thought how wonderful it would reasons: including asserting their Israel’s assault on Lebanon and have been if I had taken in a war- religious identity, preferring the Gaza – and to express their fury rant from the International Crim- anonymity, or out of habit. at Tony Blair’s refusal to call for inal Court, and I was offering it Indeed, the attack on how Muslim an immediate and unconditional to Mr Blair and a policeman women should dress is likely to ceasefire. would arrest him. That’s a dream produce more women wearing the The emergency demonstra- that will come one day.” niqab as an act of defiance. tion, called by the Stop the War “First it was Afghanistan and Not only would be wrong to Coalition at a week’s notice, at- Iraq, now it’s Lebanon – this is legislate to prevent them from tracted a broad range of people. another imperial war,” said wearing what they choose; it’s Many had decided to come Soumaya Ghannoushi from the wrong for a government minister along at the last moment, after British Muslim Initiative. “Bush even to suggest that their choice the march was featured on the and Blair are not just giving of clothing is somehow inappro- front page of . Israel a green light. They are priate because it makes him un- Protesters booed as they filed partners in war crimes.” comfortable. past the US embassy in Groves- Blair’s complicity was also I was opposed to the govern- nor Square. They left 1,500 pairs highlighted by Mark Serwotka, ment’s religious hatred law. Jack of children’s shoes outside general secretary of the PCS Straw, as Leader of the House of Downing Street to symbolise the union. “Why did our foreign sec- Commons, attempted to steer it children Israel had killed. retary tell the media that she did eating, running for buses, under- onto the statute-books. The Bill as Speakers at the rally in Parlia- not know that US planes taking taking many types of employ- originally proposed made it an of- ment Square argued that Israel’s bombs to Israel were refuelling at ment. Even if the wearing of the fence for anyone to say anything onslaught had to be understood Prestwick airport?” he asked. niqab is the woman’s own choice, that might be likely to stir up reli- as part of the wider ‘war on “When faced with protests, they the message sent is that she is her gious hatred in whoever heard it. terror’ and George Bush’s plans had to stop these flights – this husband’s property. Only he can The point was not whether or not for a ‘new Middle East’. shows that if we protest we can enjoy seeing her unveiled. Those the speaker intended to stir up re- Both Louise Christian (the make a difference.” messages can be subverted – ligious hatred, but whether, re- human rights lawyer and a “They sought to divide the countless Bollywood musicals, gardless of the speaker’s Haldane Society vice-presi- Middle East – but in fact drawing on Urdu poetic tradi- intentions, his or her words dent) and Craig Murray, a they have united Muslim tions, extol the beauty, mystery would be likely to have that former British ambassador and Christian, Sunni and and sexiness of the veiled effect. The government had, in the to Uzbekistan, said Tony Shia, Islamist and secular,” woman’s eyes. And, of course, end, to accept a much watered Blair was complicit said Daoud Abdullah plenty of women wearing the down version. Had Jack Straw in war crimes and from the Muslim niqab do work and would angrily got his law through, his com- should be called to Council of Britain. reject the idea that it made them ments on the veil would have got account. “This war has anonymous. But ultimately it is him hauled up before the judges. Bruce Kent of given birth to mil- hard to imagine that, without nu- Liz Davies CND and the Move- lions of resistance merous direct and indirect pres- This article first appeared in the ment for the Aboli- fighters across the sures, many women would Morning Star. tion of War said: region.” October 2: Happy 3: British government 4: European Court of Justice rules that employers 6: Lawyers acting for 7: Under changes to double birthday to the refuses offer by US to cannot lawfully pay some workers much higher Mau Mau veterans jeopardy law a man cleared 15 years Human Rights return nearly all the salaries than others solely on the grounds of long launch legal action in ago of murdering a young mother Act, six years British residents held service. Bernadette Cadman took her case to an UK, accusing Army and was jailed for life. William Dunlop had old today, and at Guantanamo. employment tribunal five years ago when she colonial authorities of stood trial for the murder of Julie under attack, Americans demand found that male workers on the same grade at the torturing or illegally killing Hogg in 1989 but juries failed to from the British that the detainees be Health and Safety Executive were earning up to thousands of Kenyans reach a verdict. In prison for another Government. kept under 24-hour £9,000 more than her. Her union, Prospect, during the rebellion for assault he confessed to a prison surveillance if set free. described the case as the most important on independence 50 years officer but nothing could be done equal pay to be brought in the past 10 years. ago. until the change of law last year.

Socialist Lawyer December 2006 7 News&Comment

strations to warn citizens against Lawyer on protest. All political prisoners are iso- lated. Most were arrested on sus- hunger strike picion of membership of a banned group, for which the maximum sentence is 12 years. prepared to To raise suspicion, a person need only sell magazines on the street. face death Once arrested, a person com- monly spends a long time re- Jo Wilding and Azam Zia from manded in custody waiting for a the Haldane Society were part of trial to either start or finish. A a lawyers’ delegation to Turkey year or two in custody before from 29th November to 2nd De- conviction is not unusual. Some cember 2006 to meet lawyers and prisoners have waited on remand activists opposing isolation for as much as eight years, only regimes in Turkish prisons – par- to be acquitted eventually. ticularly the lawyer Behic Asci Twelve years a lawyer, Behic who has joined the mass hunger Behic Asci: fighting the barbarity of prison isolation in Turkey Asci described the effects of iso- strike protest. lation on one of his clients. “He government again backed down. government claims it does not was 20 years old, detained for a ehic began his hunger Early in 2000 the plans were re- isolate prisoners and has enacted month and a half in isolation strike on 5th April introduced and prisoners and ac- legislation allowing for five and when he was released he had 2006, International tivists again protested. On 20th hours a week outside the cells. to be admitted to hospital with BLawyers’ Day, joining Octber that year another hunger Dozens of lawyers from the clinical depression. If he was not prisoners protesting at the isola- strike was declared. This time the People’s Law Office and others kept in isolation he would not be tion in Turkey’s notorious F-type government did not retreat and, told us that even that meagre in that condition.” Sensory de- prisons. on 19th December, 8335 special provision meant nothing in prac- privation results in tinnitus, Hunger strike has a history in troops, guards and police at- tice. In order to be eligible for hearing loss and severely deterio- Turkish prisons. In 1984, when tacked 20 prisons, killing 28 pris- the five hours, prisoners have to rating eyesight. Physical illnesses, there were a lot of political pris- oners and injuring hundreds. go on ‘rehabilitation’ pro- early menopause, depression, oners after the 1980 military Women with vicious scars on grammes, said to be political re- anxiety, loss of memory or con- coup, four people died in a their faces and hands described education. centration are all common. hunger strike against the intro- how, on that day, a women’s The government claimed that “But besides the direct effects, duction of military-style prison ward of Bayrampasa prison in the prison crackdown had suc- it makes abuse and torture more uniforms, when prisoners had Istanbul was fired on with gas ceeded in breaking the protests common, more easy. One of my always worn civilian clothes. If a grenades for several hours before and that the hunger strike was clients was in a single-person cell hunger strike seems an extreme being set on fire by the troops. over, provoking increasing soli- in Kandira F-Type prison. They reaction, in the context of mili- Hundreds of prisoners were darity hunger strikes beyond the came to do the prisoner count tary rule, the move was seen as moved to ‘F-Type’ prisons. prisons, first family members and he said he would not stand one towards restructuring of F-Types are high security pris- and then other activists joining up to be counted because they Turkish society as a whole along ons in which single prisoners or the fast to make visible the strug- knew he was the only one in more militaristic lines. The junta groups of three are isolated. They gles inside. F-types are repre- there. They beat him, they backed down and the uniforms are allowed out of their cells, if at sented as modern, European smashed his skull against the were abandoned. all, for half an hour once a week style prisons. Yet they are also wall of the cell. I went to court In 1996, plans were an- if a member of their immediate represented as particularly harsh to sue the prison guards and the nounced to introduce a new kind family visits. There are no provi- prisons and television stations court said there is no case. There of prison. After 12 hunger-strik- sions for exercise, work, educa- are allowed to broadcast pictures are no witnesses because they are ers died, the nominally civilian tion or socialising. The of violent repression of demon- all isolated.” October 7: US court throws out 300 British 12: Police are to pay 12: Five Law Lords 12: Appeal Court rules Government is 13: A Coroner states claims for compensation for faulty £500,000 in damages unanimously overturn a High under no obligation to demand the that he will be writing drug Vioxx. Claimants, who had to two of the ‘Cardiff Court and Appeal Court libel return of three UK residents from to the Attorney suffered strokes and heart attacks Three’, who served judgements against the Wall Guantanamo who suffered degrading General and the after taking the drug for arthritis and more than a decade in Street Journal Europe in 2003 treatment.“This suffering is the Director of Public which was withdrawn in 2004, had prison after officers and quash damages totalling consequence of the actions of a foreign Prosecutions been refused legal aid in the UK. allegedly framed them £40,000 to a Saudi billionaire sovereign state for which the United concerning the US Judge ruled that the British for a murder they did businessman, an important Kingdom bears no responsibility under shooting of ITN legal system should provide not commit. boost for investigative the European Convention on Human journalist Terry Lloyd sufficient redress. journalists. Rights or the Human Rights Act”. by US soldiers.

8 Socialist Lawyer December 2006 News&Comment

For all his years of experience handed over sovereignty to a union ver-di in Berlin; participa- and training, in the face of the civilian government in 1983, it European tion at the meetings of the Euro- Turkish state, Behic felt he had left behind a constitution allow- pean Network against ; exhausted the legal remedies for ing the National Security Coun- observation of the Trial 18/98 in his clients. “It just gets worse. I cil (MGK) to overrule champions Madrid against 59 defendants cannot help my clients.” In this Parliament, which tends to pass (Tim Potter, a Haldane member context Behic began his hunger laws ‘suggested’ by the MGK. n Paris on 1st May 1993, the (January 2006), Micól Savia strike in April. “The response of Military officers dominate the Haldane Society became a (February 2006)); a meeting with the State so far had been that it MGK, though high ranking founder member of the Euro- Basque Lawyers in February in was illegal organisations which politicians and selected business- Ipean Association of Lawyers Bilbao; participation at the inter- were campaigning against F- men are included. The reformist for Democracy and Human national conference of the Arab Types and that was why they and former Prosecutor General of Rights. EALDH is open to Lawyers Union in Damascus, the military police were justified Bayrampasa prison suggested lawyers from all European coun- January. EALDH also launched in their treatment of the strikers. publicly that prisoners could be tries, and already has members in an Appeal to the European Gov- As a lawyer I was able to break treated better and lost his job. 12 countries. The Administrative ernments and the European through the censorship and put He had to send his family Council, its executive committee, Union “Don’t tolerate Aggres- the isolation and the protest back abroad because of threats. “He meets twice a year, each time in a sion, War Crimes and Human in the media.” lost his place in the system when different city. In May 2005, the Rights Violations in Lebanon, Though there is not much in he criticised it,” one lawyer told AC met in London, and as Hal- Palestine and Israel!”. In No- English on the internet about us. Like most, he asked not to dane’s International Secretary, I vember, Berlin, a conference The Behic, he has clearly had some be named. was elected President. The Secre- “War against Terrorism” and the effect on the Turkish authorities: The set-up of F-Type prisons is tary General is Thomas Schmidt, “need” for security, followed by police went to his (blind) father displayed on a model in one of a German trade union lawyer the awarding of the bi-annual in November and pressured him the bases of Tayad, a prison ac- based in Dusseldorf. Hans Litten Prize to Michael to sign a document consenting to tivist group set up by families and The most recent meeting of Ratner, advocate from New forced medical treatment of friends of political prisoners. Rec- the AC took place October in York, President of the Centre for Behic. The document is of no tangular in shape, a row of Barcelona, in the office of the ad- Constitutional Rights, and legal effect because Mr Asci narrow cells runs the length of vocate Rafael Calderón i Fochs, former president of Haldane’s senior has no authority to con- the building, two blocks of six, the President of the Associació sister organisation in the US, the sent on his son’s behalf, even had one of five. Each block has a Catalana per a la Defensa dels National Lawyers Guild; No- he known what he was signing. larger area onto which each cell Drets Humans (Catalan Associa- vember in Berlin, a meeting The fear is that the document has a door. As a first step, say the tion for the Defence of Human preparing the renewed prosecu- was part of preparations to raid lawyers of the People’s Law Rights). The meeting was at- tion of Donald Rumsfeld under Behic’s house and force an end to Office, all we are asking the gov- tended by representatives of de- Germany law for war crimes; his protest. Many hunger strikers ernmentm to do is open those cell mocratic lawyers from the Venezuela: Observation of the have been disabled by force-feed- doors, so that prisoners can asso- Basque Country, Bulgaria, Eng- elections taking place as we went ing and, in an Istanbul suburb in ciate with each other. The five or land, France, Germany, and Italy. to press. November 2001, four people six people in the cells could then The members of the AC also Upcoming activities include a were killed when police raided a associate with one another during took part in a large ad dynamic Seminar in April in Munich to house where a released prisoner the day. The three-person cells conference which EALDH co-or- prepare a conference in 2008 in was continuing her strike, having each open onto a larger area ganised, Borders of Europe – Pisa on The Situation in Prisons; first obtained a similar consent which could be available to the Zones without Rights, on issues in Autumn 2007, in Paris, an In- document from a relative. inmates all day. “We are not even of asylum seekers and detention. ternational Colloquy: Which Hunger strike, though, is not asking them to close the F-Type The conference attracted over Europe do we want? the issue. Behic was quick to ex- prisons, just to open the doors. 200 mostly young lawyers from For more info about EALDH go plain that fasting is only a means They can pass a statute in a single Italy, France and Spain. to: www.ealdh.org of protest. The issue is isolation. day,” one of the lawyers ex- EALDH activities in the past Bill Bowring Any members It is the Minister of Justice who plained. “They can end isolation year have included a Conference interested in participating in the has the power to end isolation. and save Behic’s life with one sen- on Social Rights in Europe, held EALDH’s activities can contact Though the military Junta tence and a signature.” at the HQ of the German trade me at [email protected] November 18: A woman who 19: A British Mulim 24: Home Secretary 27: Anne Owers, the Chief 5: Saddam 5: Thousands of rejected feared she would teacher who refused to John Reid announces Inspector of Prisons reports that Hussein is asylum seekers are be subjected to remove her veil in that on-the-spot fines nearly half the prisoners in sentenced to remaining in the UK without female circumcision primary school when of up to £1,000 will be Britain’s biggest jail, Wandsworth death by any financial or medical if she was returned male colleagues were introduced for prison in south London, say they hanging in a support and are sleeping to Sierra Leone has present loses her Romanians and have been victimised by staff, Baghdad court rough in parks, public her asylum appeal discrimination test case, Bulgarians who take with one in eight reporting they for crimes toilets and churches upheld by the Law but wins £1,000 for jobs in the UK without have been kicked, hit or against humanity. according to a study by Lords. victimisation in the way a permit. assaulted by staff. Amnesty International and the dispute was handled. Refugee Action.

Socialist Lawyer December 2006 9 News&Comment

building employers made accusa- and the power of leadership, tions of intimidation and vio- which you apparently used to ill lence, and the National purpose. You thought you could Federation of Building Trades flout the law. You were wrong.” Employers sent a dossier to the In subsequent trials, pressure Tory government of the day, was brought on defendants to headed by Edward Heath, alleg- plea guilty to unlawful assembly ing that pickets had threatened to avoid the charge of conspiracy. and beaten up workers. Some accepted the deal, while The then Home Secretary, others refused. Brian Williams, Robert Carr, told Parliament that Arthur Murray and Mike Pierce he had decided to take action were found guilty on unlawful against the flying pickets. After a assembly and affray and were huge police investigation, 24 given sentences of six months union activists were arrested in and four months concurrent. In Ricky Tomlinson and Des Warren: the Shrewsbury Two North Wales. During their trials, the last of the trials, Terry Ren- held between October and De- shaw, John Seaburg and Lennie cember 1973, there were wide- Williams again refused to plead spread protests and guilty to unlawful assembly. Shrewsbury pickets: it’s demonstrations by building Seaburg was found guilty on workers and other trades union- both charges and got suspended ists. sentences of six and four months, now time for justice At the first trial, six men were while Renshaw and Williams he Haldane annual Shrewsbury trial involved build- found guilty of unlawful assem- were found guilty of unlawful as- meeting declared its ing workers fighting against the bly and three of affray. On sembly and given suspended sen- support for building low wages and appalling safety appeal, the charge of affray was tences of four months. Tworkers seeking to over- record in the construction indus- quashed. But the real innovation The Trades Union Congress turn their convictions on conspir- try in the early 1970s. The Trans- by the prosecution was the was unwilling to make strong acy and other charges, handed port and General Workers’ Union charge of conspiracy under an representations for the pickets’ down after a strike in 1972. ‘Jus- (TGWU) and the Union of Con- 1875 Act, which had never release, since Harold Wilson’s tice for the Shrewsbury Pickets’ struction, Allied Trades and before been used in an industrial Labour Government had come was formed this year in Liver- Technicians (UCATT) advanced a dispute. This crime carried no to power in 1974 and they did pool and is demanding a public “builders’ charter”, including de- maximum sentence. If they had not want to rock the boat. This inquiry into the pickets’ trial, mands for a minimum wage and been indicted for the crime at the rankled with Warren, a lifelong which trades unionists have a 35-hour week. In June 1972, centre of the conspiracy charge – activist on the left. “The TUC always insisted was politically after a long campaign of organi- the intimidation of workers to leaders had the key to my cell in motivated. sation on building sites, a na- abstain from work – the maxi- their pocket all the time,” he Twenty-four union activists tional strike was called. mum sentence would have been said, “but they never used it.” were tried. One of them, Des Thousands of workers on big three months. Upon his release, Warren was de- Warren, served three years in jail, sites came out and local commit- But Warren, Tomlinson and fiant. “My sentence was to have and was administered tranquillis- tees began to send out busloads John McKinsie Jones were found been a deterrent to trade union- ing drugs that were a contribu- of pickets to persuade more guilty of conspiracy, and were ists,” he said. “It appears that tory cause of Parkinson’s Disease, workers to join the protest. sentenced to three years, two trade unionists are not deterred: from which he suffered up until As the bitter 12-week dispute years and nine months respec- neither am I.” his death in 2004. Another picket went on, the “flying pickets” – a tively. John Carpenter, John Lly- Contact: justice4pickets convicted and jailed under the traditional method of spreading warch and Kenneth O’Shea were @yahoo.co.uk or go to the web- 1875 Conspiracy Act was Ricky solidarity before it was outlawed given nine months’ suspended site: www.billhunterweb.org. Tomlinson, who later became a by anti-union legislation – closed sentences. The judge told Des uk/des_warren/contact_the_ well-known actor. down more and more sites. Warren: “You are no martyr... campaign.htm The background to the The notoriously anti-union You have the power of speech Monika Pirani November 8: More than 300 9: Mizanur Rahman 10: ’s walks free 14: US-based civil rights 14: Gordon Brown supports call soldiers executed is convicted of from Court, aquitted on race hate charges. All-white Centre for Constitutional by Metropolitan Police for desertion and inciting racial hatred jury cleared him and Mark Collett of ‘words and Rights group asks Commissioner Blair for sweeping other offences after calling for the behaviour which were either intended or likely to stir German prosecutors to changes, including an extension during the First killing of British up racial hatred’. At BNP meetings in West take legal action against of 28-day limit for holding terrorist World War are troops during a Yorkshire – secretly filmed by the BBC – Griffin was former US Secretary of suspects without charge and new pardoned when protest against shown denouncing Islam as “a wicked, vicious Defence Donald Rumsfeld rules allowing suspects to be the Royal Forces cartoons held to be faith” and Collett repeatedly called asylum seekers for war crimes and alleged interviewed after charge and the Act gained Royal offensive to Islam. “cockroaches”. Their defence asserted they were abuses in Iraq and at use of security service phonetap Assent. not speaking in public but to like-minded partisans. Guantánamo Bay. evidence in Court.

10 Socialist Lawyer December 2006 YoungLegal Aid Lawyers

that the junior Bar will feel the sting in Carter. Keeping it in the family Meanwhile, YLAL have con- tinuously tried to secure a future for legal aid – and more impor- tantly for our future clients. The began writing this while sit- LSC has finally published the list ting at the Oxford University of firms that provide training law careers fair: the Young contracts and the DCA appear to ILegal Aid Lawyers’ stall with be seriously considering our its photocopied handouts and proposition that firms of a cer- banner stuck with velcro to the tain size should be required as boards was a sorry sight. Lots of part of the new contract to high-heeled students explaining commit to a certain number of that they want to do human training contracts. And we will rights work on an international continue to fight. level and human rights work gen- But it is time for the profes- erally. The other stallholders sion as a whole to take a broader, dishing out champagne, choco- more cohesive and consequently late and baseballs (genuine) to stronger stance. In particular if promising candidates laden with the Bar is to retain its indepen- glamorous shopping bags printed dence the senior Bar needs to with the names of City firms. provide for the junior Bar: any- The Young Legal Aid Lawyers thing other than that is short- had been asked to attend the fair Fair play for legal aid sighted and will lead to an to provide a presence for legal impoverished legal aid system in aid work – a presence that was we see our elders writhing in de- lawyers. Indeed, many firms are the future. This means senior much needed. Some students spair as means testing, Carter simply not recruiting due to the practitioners engaging with the knew about legal aid but others and the Legal Services Bill (due to current uncertainty, and our rep- Bar Council and the Law Society asked whether it was like “pro be progressed this session) fore- resentative bodies are proposing in their consultations about un- bono” or “like drop-in centres”. shadow a bleak future for legal to scrap the minimum wage for funded and the mini- And suddenly the world of aid. Despite the Minister for trainees and re-introduce un- mum wage, devising ways in legal aid seemed like a small (al- Legal Aid’s admonitions that de- funded pupillages! While it is a which to provide training and though rather dysfunctional) spair and gloom are unwar- great relief that the Law Society support for the junior end of the family. As young legal aid ranted, how can young lawyers has finally joined the campaign profession and supporting the lawyers we sometimes feel as embarking on a career in legal to defend legal aid, the powers campaign to defend legal aid – if though we are at the bottom of aid feel anything but gloomy? that be in the DCA appear to be not for themselves, for us and the pile, the poor relations strug- As discussions about firm of the view that the Bar is in our clients. gling to retain a place, some re- action ebb and flow amongst favour of Carter – and there Young legal aid lawyers are spect – and a future. practitioners, there appears to be seems to be little evidence in the part of the family... and without In the current climate young a lack of cohesion in the estab- form of public protest from the young legal aid lawyers there legal aid lawyers are suffering lished profession and, more im- Bar to dispel that. While Carter will be no future for legal aid, from something akin to teenage portantly, firms rightly may not have been as detrimen- just “pro bono” and “drop-in angst: we want to be independent concerned with their own sur- tal to the Bar as it could have centres”. and to forge meaningful careers vival simply have no incentive to been in terms of fees for crown Laura Janes, Chair YLAL in legal aid – but all around us focus on the training of young court cases, there is no doubt www.younglegalaidlawyers.org

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Socialist Lawyer December 2006 11 REIDING BETWEEN THE LINES

The prison service is in a deep crisis. But, argues Michael Mansfield QC, the problem is that New Labour (and Tories alike) think prison ‘works’

here is a vacuum. Criminological term headlines while doing nothing to ad- world and the highest in Europe. At the end of bankruptcy. A stark lack of vision. dress the underlying malaise in the sentenc- February 2004, 85 of 138 prisons in England Beyond the posturing and the ing system.’ and Wales were overcrowded and at the end of rhetoric there lies a supine fear of In the 1980s I was involved in two high-pro- November 2003, over 16,500 prisoners were tabloid vilification. Sentencing file Prison Riot Trials – Risley and Strange- doubling up in cells designed for one. policy has become beholden to the ways. I acted for the main defendant in both. Small wonder that the Home Office is Tpopulist response, couched in easy sound bites At that time there were a number of other dis- presently in a state of desperation and crisis. terms. turbances in prisons throughout the United Various hare-brained schemes are being acti- Upon assuming the office of Home Secre- Kingdom. The complaints were manifold but vated in the face of saturation – by 6th Octo- tary, John Reid proudly pronounced that the some were common, longstanding and obvi- ber it was just 162 short of capacity. Operation Labour Government has ‘locked up more ous. The two most serious, and inter-related, Safeguard it is claimed would release 500 people for longer’ than any predecessor as if were overcrowding and deficient regimes. The police cells at £300 per night per prison. Such the prison population is a market commodity Woolf Report which followed these events was a measure is both short-lived and expensive, in whose numbers provide a quality assured a thorough investigation of the causes and 2002 it cost over £10 million. marker of a safer society. All this kind of state- made far-reaching recommendations. They Consideration is also being given to deport- ment achieves is reinforcement of a punitive have not been heeded. ing some of the 11,000 foreign prisoners, or al- and thoroughly erroneous belief that ‘prison When Lord Woolf produced his Report in ternatively housing some of them in the Maze works’ – a notion purveyed by yet another 1991, the prison population was stabilised and prison in Northern Ireland. The Maze, whose Home Secretary, Michael Howard. falling. Within the passing of a mere decade the infamous H blocks saw the IRA hunger strikes The facts demonstrate a quite different situation has been reversed. The population has of the 1980s, was closed in 2000 and demoli- truth, not that high-ranking politicians have very nearly doubled, with the Home Office pre- tion commenced last month – October 2006. ever allowed the facts to get in the way of the dicting 190,600 by 2010. This is one of the Similarly, converting disused Parachute Regi- truth. Richard Garside, the acting Director of highest pro rata prison populations in the ment barracks in Dover is under review. the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at Even more extreme, conjuring up Dicken- Kings College, London, observed recently: sian descriptions of prison hulks in the Thames ‘The Government has lost its way on Estuary in ‘Great Expectations’, is the bid to sentencing policy. It continues to unpick a “Keeping the lid on is use ships as floating prisons. Ridiculously, the framework it only introduced a couple of Government is negotiating with an oil firm for years ago. There is no sense of any under- now the only object. the return of HMP Weare at £10 million per lying philosophy, or a clear set of principles Containment is the year, having only just sold it for oil exploration that could guide its decisions. It is left lurch- in Nigeria for a quarter of that cost. ing from one crisis to another, chasing short name of the game” All of this adds up to a blunt instrument for

12 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 University College Londonentitled‘Dowe Chief Justice,deliveredtheMischon Lectureat cerned. another soundbitesofarasBlair wascon- and toughonthecauses.Mindyou, itwasonly school attainment.Anechooftough oncrime poverty, impulsiveness,poor parenting,low hood riskfactors–criminalityinthefamily, early interventionfocussedonimportantchild- ‘revolving doorsyndrome’isaprogrammeof ommendations ofthisstudytohaltthe reers. Unsurprisingly, therefore,themainrec- criminals startearlyandhavelongcriminalca- The findingssuggestthatthemostprolific criminals sentbacktojailwithintwoyears.’ Friday 10thNovember2006:‘Two-thirds of This promptedtheheadlinein behaviour goingbackoverfortyyearsto1961. the CambridgeUniversitystudyintodelinquent preciated cycleofre-offendinghassurfacedin life. circumstances istosustainthecriminalwayof plemented. Theonlywayprisonworksinthese permit suchinitiativesbeingsuccessfullyim- vice staffinglevels,letaloneresources,doesnot alone reformation.PrisonandProbationSer- of thegame. now theonlyobject.Containmentisname forging ahumandustbin.Keepingthelidonis In April2004,LordWoolf, thentheLord Once again,thewell-knownandlong-ap- Forget sensibleregimes,rehabilitation,let on foreshadowed inhisearlierReport,– highlighted thosesameproblems,ashehad need anewapproachtopenalpolicy?’He eminent criminologistobserved: and betterprotected.SirLeonRadzinowitz, the tive policythepublicwouldbebetterserved order topromotereasoned,sensibleandeffec- brave enoughtosuffertheslingsandarrowsin derstood. Were theretobeaHomeSecretary 2006. experiencing communityserviceinOctober by hissuccessor, LordPhillips,whospentaday In placeofameaningful advance,thelatest of nationalconcern.’ of politicalcontroversyinstead of amatter mocratic societysolongasitremains atopic ters canbeachievedincontemporary de- These aresimplepointsthatsimplyun- more peopleinprison.’ a job.Itisnoanswerjusttoputmoreand vices inthecommunityyoucandoasgood someone whenspendingmuchlessonser- These sentimentshavebeenechoedrecently the positiongettingworse.’ with offendersthereiseverylikelihoodof dramatic changeinthewaythatwedeal escapable conclusionisthatunlesstherea effective inreducingre-offending.….thein- in custodyisover£36,000.Butprisonin- ‘The averagecostofkeepingaprisoner ‘No meaningfuladvanceinpenal mat- ‘It ismadnesstospend£37,000jailing ings andobjectives oftheprisonsystem. mental judicialInquirytoreappraise thework- this andestablishafar-reaching andfunda- prepared toactcourageouslyand openlyon Secretary, fromBlunkett, onwardshasbeen quiry shouldbeheld.Needlessto say, noHome the prisonserviceasawholethat aPublicIn- the findingshadsuchseriousramifications for and 2001.TheQuinnreviewconcludedthat covering-up a‘regimeoftorture’between1992 prison officerswereinvolvedininflictingand the investigationwhichfoundmorethan160 [13th November2006]publishedtheresultsof terror atWormwood Scrubs. in theQuinnReportonanineyearreign for change,comesintherevelationscontained proach toprisonregimes,andanyrealprospect ing insight,however, intothe HomeOfficeap- constructive nationalcommunity. a betterprospectoflesspunitiveandmore attention, stilllesstheresources,theremightbe and asysteminwhichpreventionattractsscant is fosteredandfestersuntilthepointofrelease given thefullpictureofasysteminwhichcrime of thevictimscrime.Were thevictimstobe banner ofarebalancingthesysteminfavour release. Thisisbeingputforwardunderthe Prison Inspectorateandacrackdownonearly the abolitionofanindependentandcritical to buildanother8,000prisonplacesby2011, raft ofimaginativeproposalsincludeapromise Perhaps themosttrenchant,andilluminat- Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 two years get sentbackwithin thirds ofcriminals doors’ meantwo- prison: its‘revolving A typicalBritish I I 13

Picture: Janet Evans Pentonville prison: a dirty vermin- infested institution where 40% of the ‘GULAG inmates have been assaulted or BRITAIN’ insulted by staff PUTS US ALL AT RISK

The prisons are overcrowded, crime is ‘rising’. The government’s answer? Build more prisons. Piers Mostyn looks at the roots of the crisis…

he parlous state of this country’s with a price tag of almost £100,000. This is a penal policy surely ranks high, phenomenal cash drain at times when mental when it comes to expensive politi- health, drug addiction, probation and housing cal disaster stories. Don’t kid your- are inadequately resourced. But there are nu- self it’s just Iraq and the merous other debilitating knock-on effects. Millennium Dome. Inmate num- Overcrowding leads to more lock up time Tbers have risen steeply since the early 1990s. In and less access to services that are vital if pris- 1992 it was 45,000. By 1997, when Tony Blair oners are going to return to the community came to power, it was 60,000. At the end of better people than when they were banged up. 2005 there were 77,000 in prison. It is cur- 18,000 are forced to share cells. Far too few rently just short of 80,000, 10,000 too many prisoners receive any training or education. for the places available. Prison regimes struggle to perform basic Current Home Office projections indicate a tasks under the enormous strain. This has re- best case scenario involving 87,600 under lock sulted in a stream of critical reports from Anne and key in five years time. Failing that, it will Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, as there break through the 100,00 mark and could were from her predecessor. Only a massive reach 106,000 by 2013. Frances Crook of the revolt forced the government Howard League for Penal Reform has de- to scrap plans to get rid of the inspectorate that scribed this as “truly chilling … the Home Sec- tells this crucial story. retary is projecting a future of “gulag Britain” In recent months Pentonville has been con- that puts us all at risk”. demned as a dirty vermin-infested institution England and Wales have the highest impris- where 40% of the inmates have been assaulted onment rate in Western Europe, at 148 per or insulted by staff. The inspectors found that 100,000, 50% higher than the average, with one evening there was not enough food to go France on 85 and Germany 95. We easily out- around at the only cooked meal of the day. strip authoritarian regimes like China, Burma Basic operations were described as at best and Saudi Arabia. In the West the country is patchy and at worst non-existent. Fear of vio- second only to the USA which notoriously lence has grown largely due to the easy avail- keeps over 2.1 million behind bars. ability of drugs. Serious questions need answering about In October, at Wandsworth, Britain’s biggest what is fuelling the growth. The comparative jail, it was reported that half the prisoners said statistics suggest there is nothing inevitable they had been vicitmised by staff – with 1 in 8 about it. physically assaulted by them. Although there Each prisoner costs around £40,000 a year has been an improvement in vocational train- to maintain and each new prison place comes ing opportunities – only 96 out of 1,400 in-

14 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 mates were able to take advantage. And a year long investigation by the Prison Services anti-corruption unit and the Metro- “‘England and Wales politan police has suggested that around 1,000 prison officers were involved in varieties of cor- have the highest ruption. Picture: Janet Picture: Evans It is well established that the reconviction imprisonment rate in rate for prisoners is higher – at 67.4% re-of- Western Europe, ...We fending within two years of release – than for offenders punished in the community. A sig- easily outstrip nificant increase on 15 years ago (when it was 51%). Among 18-21 year olds the figure is authoritarian regimes 78.4%. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust has commented that, “no one like China, Burma and can be satisfied with a prison system which turns people out more, not less, likely to offend Saudi Arabia” again. Overcrowded prisons are turning petty criminals into the old lags of the future”. downward trend. But the general consensus is The impact of all this is worst on the most that crime rates are stable or are falling. vulnerable. Self harm and suicide in prison con- Rising numbers cannot be explained by an tinues to be an endemic problem. A large pro- increase in arrests. The number of defendants portion have mental health problems. And coming before the courts remained broadly there are currently 5,000 inmates that former stable through the 1990s – a time of accelerat- Prison chief Martin Narey described as “pro- ing prison growth. What changed was the foundly mentally ill” – requiring urgent trans- number sent to prison and the length of sen- fer to NHS facilities. tences. Between 1996 and 2002 the number of There are over 11,000 prisoners under 21 in people receiving custodial sentences increased England and Wales. In October the Youth Jus- by 32% from 85,000 to 112,000 a year. Al- tice Board reported that, with 3,350 of these though the use of community sentences also in- under 18 year olds, the system is in meltdown. creased by 41%, the use of fines fell. There has This is more than double the figure a decade been a ratchteting up in which offences at each ago and rising higher than the general prison level of seriousness are being given more puni- population. Almost half of them will have been tive sentences. in care at some point. Up to 30% of young No doubt magistrates and judges should women in custody report having been sexually take their share of the blame. But the central re- abused in childhood. 10% suffer from severe sponsibility lies with the government. New psychotic illness compared with 0.2% in the Labour has created new offences, increased general population. Around 2/3 experience sentencing powers, introduced new minimum anxiety and depression. 29 children have taken and life sentences, clamped down on bail rights their lives in custody since 1990. and created a whole new risk of incarceration The number of women in prison has also (through ASBOs) from behaviour not previ- risen at a higher rate than the average, more ously classified as criminal. than double over the last decade. The majority More significantly it has engaged in an overt are for non violent offences. The relentless in- bidding war with the Tories, aided and betted crease in male prisoners is impacting on by the tabloids, to see who can be womens prisons, as they are converted to make the hardest on crime and “disorder”. At the places. As a result women are more than twice slightest chance, public anxiety is whipped up. as likely to be held more than 50 miles from The courts then respond to this pressure, al- their home despite a large proportion being though of course – if the independence of the mothers. judiciary meant anything – they shouldn’t. 55% of self harm incidents in prison are The usual riposte is to blame “the people”. committed by women, although they are only “Public opinion must be obeyed”, “by being 6% of the total – with 42 female suicides in the tough we at least hold the line against hanging past four years. and flogging”: so the argument goes. But how And the cancer of racism has been high- valid is it? lighted by this year’s Inquiry on Zahid An ICM survey conduct by the charity Mubarek, the young Asian male, unnecessarily SmartJustice this Summer showed that 62% imprisoned for a minor offence and murdered out of 1,000 crime victims did not believe by his psychopathic Nazi cell mate. In the prison reduces non-violent crimes and 80% decade to 2003 the proportion of ethnic mi- thought more constructive activities for young nority inmates increased from 16% to 25%. people in the community and better supervi- How much has changed since the Commission sion of children by parents would be effective for Racial Equality condemned the prison ser- in stopping re-offending. vice for racial discrimination on 17 separate And reactionary populism of this type does- counts, two years ago? n’t come from nowhere. The context for pop- A discussion on the causes of crime and how ular discourse has been two and a half decades it should be dealt with is essential to this issue, of government-led rightism on law and order. although it hardly provides an explanation. It is This has not been inevitable. You can conspire a complex debate, not helped by two contra- with it and nurture it, as Murdoch and Blair dictory sets of statistics – recorded crime going have done, or you can look to the alternatives. up but the more authoritative British Crime What are the roots of this public anxiety? It Survey showing a reduction. And there are im- is now well established that public perceptions

portant variations among particular crimes – about both the crime rate and the way the L violent and sexual offences bucking the general criminal justice system deal with it are incon-

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 15 “Slashing numbers by a third – removing petty offenders, the mentally ill, children, … on the contrary it might addicts, women and make it safer, if the money some of those on saved was used to put remand – would not resources into treating make society a more their problems and dangerous place… rehabilitating them” Picture: Janet Picture: Evans L sistent with the true facts. In other words significant drop in lifers getting parole – a re- roots in an increase in insecurity, alienation and things aren’t as bad as people think they are. sponse to the current “crisis” over the issue, individualism and a decline in social solidarity We are living in an age of heightened inse- but also proving how easy it is to turn the tap and strong communities. Successive Tory and curity the roots of which pre-date the current on and off. Labour governments have implemented poli- over-crowding crisis or Osama Bin Laden’s rise A large number of inmates are being held cies that have exacerbated these dynamics. The to fame. on remand, (currently 16.7% of the total). But political trajectory driving this has to be Post-Thatcher changes to the economy, so- less than half of these go on to receive a prison changed. ciety and the welfare state have produced a so- sentence. Just over one in five of the female Even given the status quo, what justification ciety with the longest working hours in Europe, prison population are on remand, one of the can there be for a prison population above the growing inequality (higher now than under fast growing groups. European average? Slashing numbers by a third Thatcher) and large numbers working for low And thousands of prisoners with serious – removing petty offenders, the mental ill, chil- wages on short term contracts. Unemployment mental health and addiction problems are dren, addicts, women and some of those on may technically be down, but huge numbers simply in the wrong place. Arguably the intro- remand – would not make society a more dan- are on sickness benefits, many suffering from duction of a woefully under-resourced “care in gerous place. On the contrary it might make it depression. Simply visiting your GP is far more the community” system since the 1990s has safer, if the money saved was used to put re- difficult than it was 30 years ago. An acute simply led to the dumping of large numbers in sources into treating their problems and reha- housing shortage adds further pressure. And prison as an expensive and counterproductive bilitating them. the reduced value of and greater uncertainty alternative, many of them self-medicating on Well run and carefully targeted rehabilita- over pensions combines with changes to the job illegal drugs en route. tion programmes have lower reconviction rates. market to heighten insecurity about the future. The Healthcare Commission reported in The Howard League estimates that replacing In these circumstances it is hardly surpris- November that Primary Care Trusts are failing 20,000 prison places with alternative sentences ing that people project anxieties stemming to provide adequate mental health care for would save the taxpayer £690 million. from a plethora of causes over which they have young offenders. Service provision is patchy This has got to be better than Labour’s no control and perhaps little awarness on to and inconsistent, with many PCTs failing to planned 8,000 new prison places by 2012 (top- more tangible targets – disorder, crime, etc – meet their legal obligation to provide appro- ping the £2.5 billion spent on them new since exaggerating their significance at the very least. priate levels of care. Effective treatment of 1997). The only real beneficiary will be the pri- In any event, significant aspects of the mental health problems is crucial to reducing vate sector, which will profit from running half prison population are directly under govern- the very high re-offending rate of this age of it. And this may not be sufficient even to ment control. The number of prisoners being group. meet the most optimistic official predictions. returned to jail for breaching conditions under Much of this isn’t very controversial. Senior Sources include the websites of: The which they were released on licence has soared ministers and judges have been on record for Howard League for Penal Reform, The Prison by 400% in four years – from 2,457 in 2001 to some time in acknowledging that there is noth- Reform Trust, Guardian Unlimited. The Home 9,320 last year. The majority of these have been ing healthy about the situation. So what can be Office, SmartJustice, The Independent, The for technical breaches rather than further of- done about it? BBC and The International Centre for Prison fences. John Reid has recently presided over a Crime and the fear of crime have substantial Studies I

16 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 into the Prison Service Order for Juvenile regimes. Where children in custody are in need of protection a referral must be made to social CHILDREN services and each establishment now has child area protection committees. The recently pub- lished report of the Carlile Inquiry commis- sioned by the Howard League suggests that there is still much to be done within the juvenile IN CUSTODY: secure estate to ensure that children inside cus- tody are not subjected to serious harm. The report recommended severely restricting phys- ical intervention, stopping the strip searching CHILDREN of children and an end to segregation of chil- dren in custody. Lord Carlile’s comments on the publication of his inquiry amount to a damning indictment of the current position: “The rule of law and protection of human IN NEED rights should apply to all children equally, re- gardless of whether they are detained in cus- tody or in the community. We found that some of the treatment children in custody experience There are literally thousands of young people in would in another setting be considered abusive and could trigger a child protection investiga- custody in the UK right now. Laura Janes tion. If children in custody are expected to learn to behave well, they have to be treated reports on a shocking aspect of society today… well and the staff and various authorities have to set the very highest standards. My team of ome 10,000 children pass through prison population. Over half of the children in expert advisers shared my shock at some of the the secure estate for juveniles per custody have been in the care of, or involved practices we witnessed.” year. At any one time there are ap- with, social services prior to entering custody. However, physical control and restraint proximately 3,000 children under Two out of five girls and one out of four boys techniques continue to be widely used on chil- the age of 18 held in secure chil- report suffering violence at home. One in three dren in custody. Research by the Howard dren’s homes, Secure Training Cen- girls and one in 20 boys in prison report sexual League for Penal Reform suggested that up to Stres (STCs) or Young Offender Institutions abuse. Eighty-five per cent of children in prison one in five children sustained injuries as a result (YOIs). show signs of a personality disorder. One in ten of restraint while in custody. These ranged Incarceration is costly: A Secure Training shows signs of a psychotic illness (such as schiz- from broken wrists to nosebleeds, friction Centre place (run by private contractors) costs ophrenia). One in four females (aged 16 to 20) burns and bruising. An answer to a parlia- £164,750, and a local authority secure chil- and one in seven males in prison were depen- mentary question showed that between Janu- dren’s home place costs £185,780, reflecting dent on opiates such as heroin. Over half of the ary 1999 and June 2004, restraint was used staffing ratios of four staff to eight youngsters. girls in prison and two-thirds of the boy popu- 11,593 times in STCs A place at a Young Offender Institution run by lation had alcohol problems before entering A further and deeply worrying issue that the the Prison Service costs £50,800, with a ratio of prison. Howard League has campaigned on recently is around four staff to 60 youngsters. The picture is well summarised by Mr Jus- the number of child deaths in custody: twenty Criminal responsibility in England and tice Munby in a judicial review brought by the nine children have died in penal custody since Wales begins at the age of ten years – the lowest Howard League for Penal Reform in 2002, 1990. Twenty-seven of the children took their (bar Scotland) in Europe. England and Wales which successfully determined that the Chil- own lives; one was the victim of homicide and imprison more children and young people than dren Act 1989 does not cease to apply simply one boy died whilst being restrained by staff. any Western European country, behind only because a child is incarcerated: Twenty-seven of the children died in prisons Turkey and Ukraine. Article 40 of the UN Con- ‘[Children in custody] are, on any view, vul- and two died in privately run jails for children, vention on the Rights of the Child stipulates nerable and needy children. Disproportionately the secure training centres. A study published that ‘if children are accused of breaking the law they come from chaotic backgrounds. Many in The Lancet on 15th September 2005 sug- they should get legal help. Prison should only have suffered abuse or neglect. Over half of the gested that children in prison are 18 times more be used for the most serious crimes.’ It is clear children in YOIs have been in care. Significant likely to commit suicide than their counterparts that custody is not being used as a last resort in percentages report having suffered or experi- in the community. England and Wales. Rather, the advent of Anti- enced abuse of a violent, sexual or emotional Prison does not work for children. In addi- Social Behavioral Orders mean that it is not un- nature. A very large percentage have run away tion, as a country we are clearly in breach of known for young people to be placed in from home at some time or another. Very sig- the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child custody without ever having committed a sub- nificant percentages were not living with either in that we do not reserve custody as a last stantive criminal offence. parent prior to coming into custody and were resort. A recent statement by the Lord Chief Justice either homeless or living in insecure accommo- In short, children in the penal system are emphasised the difficulties in sending damaged dation. Over half were not attending school, often seen as offenders first and children people to prison: either because they had been permanently ex- second. I ‘I have been talking about the large number cluded or because of long-term non-atten- G Laura Janes is a solicitor and Legal Officer of inadequate or damaged members of society dance. Over three-quarters had no educational for the Howard League for Penal Reform, for whom minor criminality is the only way of qualifications. Two-thirds of those who could whose legal team was established in 2003 life they know. Short spells of imprisonment be employed were in fact unemployed. Many following the landmark victory the followed by reoffending is an expensive and in- reported problems relating to drug or alcohol organisation achieved in the Children Act effective way of dealing with these. Meaningful use. Many had a history of treatment for Case in order to represent children in custody. punishment in the community, coupled with a mental health problems. Disturbingly high per- The team has evolved (from December 2006, proper programme of rehabilitation, properly centages had considered or even attempted sui- representing people in custody under 21) and resourced and managed, must be the better cide.’ now has a criminal defence (prison law) option.’ As a result of the Munby case, the duties to- contract with the Legal Services Commission, ‘Damaged members of society’ are ex- wards children in custody under the Children for which it has been awarded the Quality tremely well represented amongst the child Act have been recognised and incorporated Mark.

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 17 GUANTÁNAMO:

In December 2005, following a telephone interview with the Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, Sadat Sayeed was offered a three month fellowship to work on CCR’s ‘September 11th’ dockets, and in particular, on the ‘Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative’. What follows is an overview of the last five years at Guantánamo Bay, the litigation efforts, and the lawyers who are leading the fight to close one of the 21st century’s most hideous symbols.

he Center for Constitutional Rights is a non- profit legal and educational organisation dedi- cated to protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the US Constitution and the Uni- versal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR’s work began in the 1960s, on behalf of civil rights ac- Ttivists, and it has grown into the US’s leading progressive legal center, undertaking innovative and ground-breaking lit- igation on behalf of popular movements for social, legal and racial justice. It cannot be doubted that the events of 11th September 2001 rocked the United States, and in particular New York. The Bush administration, which at the time had been in power for less than a year, acted swiftly, and in early Octo- ber 2001 George W Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, and destroy Al- Qaeda. By early 2002, the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay started to receive alleged members of the Taliban and Al- Qaeda who had been captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The initial images of detainees dressed in orange boiler suits, shackled, blindfolded and being moved around on trolleys, were potent symbols of the new neo-con- servative world order created by George W Bush with the as- sistance of his junior partner, Tony Blair. At a time when New York was still reeling from the at- tacks of 9/11, and the American public as well as the legal and political establishment fell into line with the President, none quickly developed into the Guantánamo Global Justice Ini- Secretary of of the established civil liberties organisations stepped forward tiative under which CCR started to recruit, coordinate and Defense Donald to challenge the human rights outrage that was unfolding at train attorneys from around the country to provide legal help Rumsfeld (right) Guantánamo Bay. All except CCR. Representing two Aus- to the Guantánamo detainees and those captured around the had approved the tralians, David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, and two men world in the name of the war on terror. This group of use of most of the specific tactics from the U.K, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, CCR filed a peti- lawyers has now grown to around 500 in number, and the recommended in tion seeking a writ of habeas corpus for the detained men in lawyers range from ‘one man band’ firms in the Mid-West, the Dunlavey the District Court for the District of Columbia. The petition through to partners in huge Wall Street law firms, all of Memo, among challenged the Presidential Executive Order of 13th Novem- whom work on a pro-bono basis. The incredibly broad spec- them sixteen ber 2001, which authorised indefinite detention without due trum of lawyers, who are willing to give up their time and tactics that were process of law, as a violation of international law and the US effort, is a reflection of how inimical Guantánamo Bay is to patently illegal Constitution. No other legal organisation was willing to join the rule of law. under the Geneva CCR in their efforts, and they received scores of death threats Convention and hate mail. Litigation efforts Within months however, under the bold leadership of The initial habeas applications proceeded all the way to the CCR, increasing numbers of lawyers throughout the US Supreme Court, and on 28th June 2004 in Rasul v Bush, the started to take notice of the monstrous regime which had Court ruled in favour of the detainees in a landmark judg- been put in place at Guantánamo Bay, and also of the assault ment which held that the detainees had to habeas on the US Constitution which the vast majority of Ameri- corpus in the American federal courts. The New York Times cans, whatever their political persuasion, hold so dear. This hailed the victory as “the most important civil liberties case

18 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 FIVE YEARS ON

in half a century”. This was a significant blow to the Bush military commissions, providing exclusive jurisdiction to administration’s attempts to hermetically seal away the de- the D.C. Circuit to review final decisions by military com- tainees in a lawless black hole. Within a month of the deci- missions where a sentence of 10 years or more was imposed. sion, CCR had filed habeas petitions for 53 of the detainees, The jurisdictional limitation provided by the DTA was a and in January 2005, CCR lodged habeas corpus applica- grossly inadequate substitute for the great writ of habeas tions for more than 500 detainees in a lawsuit entitled ‘John corpus. The CSRTs could not even be described as ‘third Does Nos. 1-570 v. Bush’, named so because the Bush Ad- class justice’, offering not a modicum of due process to the ministration refused to disclose the identities of the detainees detainee. Under the CSRT procedure, detainees are not it was keeping in indefinite detention. aware of the charges against them, cannot present rebuttal However, the seminal ruling in Rasul v Bush on one of evidence, have no right to counsel, and no right to present the cornerstones of Anglo-American law, was subsequently witnesses. washed away by the ‘Graham-Levin’ legislative amendment which sought to eliminate the right of habeas corpus for Detainee abuse anyone held at Guantánamo. The affect of the amendment, The protracted litigation was set against the backdrop of proposed by Senators Graham and Levin, was to strip fed- constant reports of torture and abuse of detainees. Much eral courts of habeas jurisdiction, thereby eliminating a of this abuse was state sanctioned. On 11th October 2002, right, the origins of which go back to the Magna Carta in Major General Michael B. Dunlavey, Commander of the 1215. The New York Times condemned the Graham-Levin Joint Task Force 170 at Guantánamo, sought approval of amendment as “a malignant measure” and warned that it certain special interrogation tactics from General James T. “would do grievous harm to the rule that the government Hill, Commander, United States Southern Command. The cannot just lock you up without showing cause to a court. proposed interrogation techniques were divided into cate- This fundamental principle of democratic justice must not gories. Among Category II tactics were the use of dogs, re- be watered down so the Bush administration does not have moval of clothing, hooding, stress positions, isolation for to answer for the illegal detentions of hundreds of men at up to 30 days, 20-hour interrogations, and deprivation of Guantánamo Bay and other prison camps.” light and auditory stimuli. The Category III tactics sought Despite a vigorous campaign by CCR and other leading were “use of scenarios designed to convince the detainee civil liberties and human rights organisations against this that death or severely painful consequences are imminent hideous amendment, on 30th December 2005, the President for him and/or his family,” “exposure to cold weather or signed into law the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA), water,” “use of a wet towel and dripping water to induce which contained a provision (introduced by Senator the misperception of suffocation,” and “use of mild, non-in- McCain) that explicitly stated, “No individual in the cus- jurious physical contact.”2 By 2nd December 2002, Secre- tody or under the physical control of the United States Gov- tary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had approved use of most ernment… shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading of the specific tactics recommended in the Dunlavey Memo. treatment or punishment”.1 This provision was a welcome Among the sixteen tactics were those that were patently il- affirmation of the US government’s obligations under in- legal under the Geneva Conventions and other international ternational law. However, what was given with one hand laws, and included stripping detainees naked, use of hoods, was taken away by the other. Section 1005 of the DTA (the use of dogs, yelling, stress positions, isolation for 30 days, Graham-Levin amendment) purported to sharply limit the light deprivation, and use of loud sounds as interrogation rights of the Guantánamo detainees to bring habeas corpus tactics. petitions in the US courts to challenge their detentions. The Several detainee accounts detailed brutal beatings, wa- effect of this provision was to erase the memory and effect terboarding, stress positions for prolonged periods of time, of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Rasul v Bush. applying electric shocks to a person, mock execution, sexual Under section 1005 of the DTA, the US Court of Appeal assault, hooding, threats of rape, physical restraint of de- for the D.C. Circuit was given exclusive jurisdiction to hear tainees in very painful conditions, witnessing the torture of habeas cases brought by individuals held at Guantánamo other detainees, and keeping detainees naked in cells.3 De- Bay, however review was limited only to the status deter- tainees were also subject to other acts which by any view mination made by Combatant Status Review Tribunals constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading (CSRT), ad hoc hearings established by the administration treatment or punishment. These included allowing med- at Guantánamo in 2004, limited to establishing whether a ically untrained military personnel to attempt inserting in- detainee has been properly designated an “enemy combat- travenously into detainees, being injected with syringes of ant.” In addition, the DTA circumscribed judicial review of unknown medicines, being placed in a room with varying 1. Section 1003 of the Kingdom, or some of the Dratel, (2005), pp 227- degrees of water and threatened with electrocution and Detainee Treatment Act. Category II or III tech- 228), would now be held drowning, being beaten while blindfolded, spending pro- 2. In the House of Lords niques detailed in a J2 to fall within the definition longed periods in isolation, being shackled for prolonged (UK) in A and 9 others v memorandum dated 11 in article 1 of the Torture Secretary of State for the October 2002 addressed Convention.” periods so that the detainee urinated on himself, being Home Department [2005] to the Commander, Joint 3. Open letter of Shafiq doused with pine sol (a household cleaning product) and UKHL 71, Lord Bingham Task Force 170 at Rasul and Asif Iqbal to used as a “human mop” by military personnel, forcing de- giving the lead judgment Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President George W tainees to urinate and defecate on themselves, manipulating stated “It may well be that (see The Torture Papers: Bush and the United

the conduct complained The Road to Abu Ghraib, States Senate dated sleep cycles by brightly lighting cells for 24 hours a day, L of in Ireland v United ed. K Greenberg and J 13th May, 2004. sexual assault and other variations.

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 19 My arrival in New York: an “undesirable Muslim”?

My trip to New York began with a his way home to his family in that the reason I had been stopped decidedly unusual experience. After Canada. He was held in solitary con- and questioned was because there long consideration, I decided I finement for nine days and interro- had been some sort of name match would not apply for a visa in gated without the benefit of legal from the Department of Homeland advance of travelling to the US, as counsel, his requests for a lawyer Security’s enormous database of this would have required an inter- being denied. The Bush administra- ‘undesirable’ Muslims. The purpose view at the US Embassy in London. tion labeled him a member of Al of the interview was to eliminate me Considering the nature of the work I Qaeda, and rendered him, not to from their enquiries. However, in the was going to be doing in New York, Canada, his home and country of course of seeking to do so, they and the organisation I was going to citizenship, but to Syrian intelligence showed me a printout of my profile be working for, I was not at all confi- authorities. Mr Arar spent ten months from chambers’ website, which dent that I would be granted a visa. in detention in Syria, where he was amongst many other things, mentions As a British national, I was entitled to brutally interrogated and tortured, ‘terrorism’ and ‘torture’. It was remark- enter the US on the ‘visa waiver pro- without charge. Enduring constant able to witness how obtuse those gramme’, and as I was not being beatings, including being whipped who were interviewing me actually paid to do my fellowship, I would not with two-inch thick electrical cable, were. They refused to acknowledge require any kind of permission to Mr Arar falsely confessed that he the context in which those words work. Upon arrival at JFK interna- had attended a training camp in were used, namely as a lawyer work- tional airport, after spending five Afghanistan, fighting against the ing in areas of law in which those minutes at the immigration counter I United States. As the thoughts of words are common currency, and was taken away to a separate hold- Maher Arar passed through my were only interested in the reference ing area which was full of people mind, being a British lawyer (albeit a to those words in complete isolation. that the Department of Homeland Muslim one) felt like it did not count Eventually, after three hours of being Security had deemed as possibly for much. held in the immigration holding facil- not appropriate for entry. As a lawyer After being kept waiting for two ity, I was begrudgingly granted a 90 I knew that I had done nothing hours, I was taken to be interviewed. day entry, but not before all my bags wrong, however, at the time, the During this interview, I was asked were opened and thoroughly story of another CCR client, Maher who I was and what I was in the checked. The whole experience was Arar was in my thoughts. Mr Arar, a United States for. Whilst I was entirely somewhat shocking, but with the Syrian-born Canadian citizen was candid about the reasons for my trip, benefit of hindsight, considering this detained during a transfer through my responses were met with a was post 9/11 New York, maybe I J.F.K. Airport in September 2002 on degree of contempt. I later found out should not have been surprised at all. L According to records released under the Freedom of In- were running.” When asked how many Guantánamo de- Much of what was formation Act, the government’s treatment of the detainees tainees were connected to terrorism, Eric Saar, an army lin- happening at clearly crossed the line into torture. FBI agents who partic- guist who participated in numerous Guantánamo Guantánamo was ipated in interrogations complained about the “torture tech- interrogations responded “At best, I would say there were not going unnoticed around the world niques” and “extreme interrogation techniques” employed a few dozen.” at Guantánamo. FBI agents reported, among other inci- dents: (1) a female interrogator grabbing the genitals of a International Condemnation detainee and bending his thumbs back; (2) a detainee gagged Much of what was happening at Guantánamo was not with his head wrapped with duct tape; (3) the use of dogs going unnoticed around the world, and was the subject of to intimidate detainees; (4) a detainee left in isolation for judicial comment in the UK as early as November 2002. In three months in a cell constantly flooded with bright light R (on the application of Abbasi) v Secretary of State for who afterward showed signs of “extreme psychological Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs & Secretary of State trauma”; (5) detainees left chained “hand and foot in a fetal for the Home Department [2002] EWCA Civ 1598, Lord position to the floor, with no chair, food, or water,” for pe- Phillips MR stated: riods of 24 hours or more, with the result that the detainees “in apparent contravention of fundamental principles had “urinated or defecated on themselves”; (6) a detainee recognised by both jurisdictions and by international law, left in an unventilated interrogation room with no air con- Mr Abbasi is at present arbitrarily detained in a ‘legal black- Brigadier General ditioning with the temperature “probably well over 100 de- hole’.” [para 64] Jay Hood (below) grees” and the detainee “almost unconscious on the floor, “What appears to us to be objectionable is that Mr said: “Sometimes, with a pile of hair next to him” because “[h]e had appar- Abbasi should be subject to indefinite detention in territory we just didn’t get ently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout the over which the United States has exclusive control with no the right folks.” night”; and (7) a detainee left in an interrogation room opportunity to challenge the legitimacy of his detention where “the temperature [was] unbearably hot” and “ex- before any court or tribunal.” [para 66] tremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and More recently, Mr Justice Collins granting permission in had been since the day before, with the detainee chained R (on the application of Al Rawi) v Secretary of State for hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.” Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs & Secretary of State Despite the appalling treatment the detainees have re- for the Home Department [2006] EWHC 458 (Admin), ceived, it has been widely acknowledged by government of- stated: ficials that many of those at Guantánamo should not be “What is said to tip the balance here is the evidence there. As the Wall Street Journal reported: “American com- which was not available in Abbasi that there is torture being manders acknowledge that many prisoners shouldn’t have practiced in Guantánamo Bay. …Unfortunately, it appears been locked up here in the first place because they weren’t that the Americans have a somewhat different view as to dangerous and didn’t know anything of value.” In 2005, what constitutes torture to certainly this country and to the then commander at Guantánamo, Brigadier General Jay what is applied by Strasbourg under the European Con- Hood stated “Sometimes, we just didn’t get the right folks.” vention on Human Rights, and I suspect what is applied by The then deputy commander, General Martin Lucenti, com- the international body in relation to the Convention against mented that, “Most of these guys weren’t fighting. They Torture.”

20 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 The conduct of US military personnel and treatment of (ICCPR), and that the general conditions of detention, in detainees at Guantánamo has also been the subject of severe particular the uncertainty about the length of detention and criticism from various international bodies. The Parliamen- prolonged solitary confinement, amounted to inhuman tary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its Resolution treatment. The Commission also concluded that the exces- 1433 (2005), entitled ‘Lawfulness of detentions by the sive violence used in many cases during transportation and United States in Guantánamo Bay,’ and adopted on 26th force-feeding of detainees on hunger strike had to be as- April 2005, concluded that “many if not all detainees have sessed as amounting to torture as defined in Article 1 of the been subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment CAT. occurring as a direct result of official policy, authorised at the very highest levels of government” and that “many de- My time in New York tainees have been subjected to ill-treatment amounting to My experience at CCR was an unforgettable one. CCR has torture which has occurred systematically and with the been at the forefront of resisting the Bush administration’s knowledge and complicity of the United States Govern- attempts to subvert accepted norms of international human ment”. Further, the Assembly also concluded that the United rights law. As an organisation, CCR is probably the equiv- States has, by practicing “rendition” allowed detainees to be alent to Liberty in the UK, except with none of the main- subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treat- stream political kudos. They have often been labeled as ment, in violation of the prohibition on non-refoulement. “lawyers for terror”, and are regarded by the current ad- Notwithstanding the complicity of the British govern- ministration as dangerous dissidents. Whilst there are ment in the war on terror and the methods used by the Bush lawyers who do similar work in the UK, within the context administration, on 10th May 2006, the Attorney General of US politics, CCR occupy a very different political space Lord Goldsmith called for the closure of Guantánamo Bay, than do their UK counterparts. If there was any doubt stating that “The existence of Guantánamo remains unac- about this, one need only read the suit filed by the CCR in ceptable. It is time, in my view, that it should close. Not the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close York on its own attorneys and legal staff representing Guantánamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also clients who fit the criteria described by the US Attorney help to remove what has become a symbol to many – right General for targeting, under the National Security Agency or wrong – of injustice.” He also stated that the UK was (NSA) Surveillance Program. The NSA program purports “unable to accept that the US military tribunals proposed to target communications between persons in the United for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient States and persons abroad where one party is suspected of guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international having connections to terrorism. Because of the work CCR standards.” has done to secure the rights of those accused of connec- In its report of 16th February 2006, the United Nations tions to terrorism in a post 9/11 world, and because there Commission on Human Rights concluded that the interro- are no safeguards put in place to ensure that attorney-client gation techniques authorised by the Department of Defense, privileged communications are not being monitored, at- amounted to degrading treatment in violation of Article 16 torneys at CCR were almost certain that confidential com- of the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and Article 7 of munications between their staff and clients had been caught L the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights up in this massive web of illegal surveillance. The admin-

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 21 L istration had its eyes and ears on the lawyers, as well as the clients. For a lawyer who had only previously heard about Guantánamo Bay in the newspapers and on television, it was amazing to witness the representation of the detainees in real time. On many occasions at the CCR offices, one would hear of events at Guantánamo Bay minutes after they happened. Lawyers at CCR and those who were working as part of the Global Justice Initiative would often travel to Cuba to visit their clients, and I would regularly hear ac- counts of how they would be denied access to detainees, and the manner in which the military would attempt to cir- cumvent orders made by the federal courts in relation to such access. The event that sticks in my mind above all others, was the immediate aftermath of the deaths of three detainees over the weekend of 10th-11th June 2006, the first deaths to occur at Guantánamo. CCR’s response was instanta- neous and throughout the following week, there was a flurry of activity as CCR sought to protect the detainees from any further harm, as well as preserve evidence in rela- tion to these shocking deaths. As with much of CCR’s work, this took place both through legal action as well as through making sure that events were properly covered by the media. Unfortunately, in the US, legal work is only as ef- fective as the media coverage which reports it. I primarily worked on the international law aspects of Guantánamo. I was involved in the drafting of the Center’s submissions to the United Nations Committee Against Tor- ture (on the US’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture) and to the United Nations Human Rights Com- mittee (on the US’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). During my stint at the CCR, the Committee Against Torture returned with their report on the US’s compliance. The Committee stated that the US should cease to detain any person at Guantánamo Bay and close the detention fa- cility. The Committee said it was worried that detainees were being held for protracted periods with insufficient legal safeguards and without judicial assessment of the justifica- tion for their detention. The Committee also expressed con- cern about allegations that the United States has established secret prisons, where the international Red Cross do not Recent events Only 10 of the 450 have access to the detainees, stating that the United States On 29th June 2006, the Supreme Court gave judgment in detainees now held “should ensure that no one is detained in any secret deten- Hamdan v Rumsfeld. Salim Ahmed Hamdan was captured at Guantánamo tion facility under its de facto effective control.” In relation by bounty hunters during the invasion of Afghanistan, was have been charged before military to treatment of detainees, the Committee commented that purchased by the United States, and then sent to Guantá- commissions. The the United States “should take immediate measures to erad- namo Bay. In July 2004, he was charged with conspiracy to rest continue to be icate all forms of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by its commit terrorism, and the Bush administration made detained there military or civilian personnel, in any territory under its ju- arrangements to try him before a military commission. indefinitely… risdiction”. It said the United States also “should rescind Hamdan filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, argu- any interrogation technique – including methods involving ing that the military commission convened to try him was In October, Bush sexual humiliation, ‘water boarding,’ ‘short shackling’ and illegal and lacked the protections required under the signed into law an using dogs to induce fear – that constitute torture or cruel, Geneva Conventions and United States Uniform Code of Act which expands inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in all Military Justice (UCMJ). The Court was asked to consider the President’s places of detention under its de facto effective control.” It whether the DTA ousted its jurisdiction, and also whether powers in an array also said some techniques “have resulted in the death of the military commissions that had been set up violated fed- of troubling ways some detainees during interrogation” and criticised vague eral law (including the UCMJ and international treaty US guidelines that “have led to serious abuse of detainees.” obligations). One of the most encouraging aspects of CCR’s work has On the issue of jurisdiction, the Court held that Congress been the way in which they have managed to transform did not include express language in the DTA that might have principles of international human rights law into a major precluded Supreme Court jurisdiction, thereby rejecting the force in American law. For some time, American lawyers of government’s argument that the Court was without juris- all political persuasions have been reticent in employing diction. In some respects, the judgment ultimately side- principles of international law as a tool in progressing the stepped the real question on ‘habeas-stripping’. The Court debate on human rights in the US, with the Constitution held that because the DTA did not bar it from consider- having always been seen as the well-spring of rights. CCR, ing the petition, it was unnecessary to decide and most notably Barbara Olanshky, CCR’s lead habeas whether laws barring habeas corpus petitions counsel, has been central in placing international law at the unconditionally would unconstitutionally vio- forefront of the fight against the Bush administration’s cam- late the Suspension Clause in the United States paign of illegality in prosecuting the war on terror, and the Constitution which states that “The Privilege of condemnation from a procession of international bodies has the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be sus- slowly but surely turned the screw on the Bush administra- pended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or tion. Invasion the public safety may require it.”

22 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 Guantánamo. It has to be remembered that only 10 of the approximately 450 detainees now held at Guantánamo have been charged before military commissions. The rest apparently continue to be detained at Guantánamo indefi- nitely. Days after the judgment in Hamdan, the Pentagon issued a memo requesting that its entire staff “promptly review all relevant directives, regulations, policies, practices and pro- cedures under your purview to ensure that they comply with the standards of Common Article 3 [of the Geneva Con- ventions].” However, not deterred by two Supreme Court decisions condemning the administration’s attempts to in- sulate Guantánamo from judicial scrutiny, on 17th Octo- ber 2006, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). Once again, the Act strips the right of non-citizens to seek review of their de- tention by a court through the filing of a writ of habeas corpus. The Act is also meant to erase the hundreds of habeas corpus petitions that CCR and others have brought on behalf of many of the 450 men being held at Guantá- namo Bay, a move already once denied by the Supreme Court. Further, the MCA dramatically expands the President’s powers in an array of troubling ways, including permitting him to determine what constitutes torture and who may be labeled an “unlawful enemy combatant” and therefore de- tained indefinitely. Such a wide and apparently untram- meled discretion means that non-citizens, such as those rounded up in sweeps after 9/11 in the US, could be held without charge or trial. US citizens deemed to have “mate- rially supported” hostilities against the United States could be held as enemy combatants as well. Once in US custody, the law allows detainees to be subjected to stress positions, temperature extremes, sleep deprivation, and possibly wa- terboarding and defines sexual violence crimes so narrowly that some of the appalling acts in Abu Ghraib, such as forced nudity, would not be punishable, and defines rape and sexual abuse in a manner that is inconsistent with in- ternational law. At the same time, the Act provides retro- spective immunity for U.S military and intelligence officials for the torture of detainees, including the roundly con- demned horrors which occurred at Abu Ghraib and Guan- In relation to the issue of the laws of war, the majority tánamo. of the Court held that these necessarily include the UCMJ and the Geneva Conventions, each of which requires more The future? protections than the military commission provides. The In early 2007, following the US mid-term elections, there Court found that the military commissions which had been will be new room for optimism. A large swathe of the Amer- set up at Guantánamo were deficient in a number of key re- ican public has demonstrated its disapproval of the war in spects: Iraq, and to a lesser extent, with the way in which the Bush • The defendant and the defendant’s attorney may be administration has handled the war on terror. More impor- forbidden to view certain evidence used against the defen- tantly, as far as Guantánamo is concerned, the much wel- dant, and the defendant’s attorney may be forbidden to dis- comed departure of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld cuss certain evidence with the defendant; may constitute an important victory in the campaign to • Evidence judged to have any probative value may be close the camp. Rumsfeld was the administration’s main ad- admitted, including hearsay, unsworn live testimony, and vocate for the use of Guantánamo as a detention facility, statements gathered through torture; and was the person who authorised and defended the grotesque • Appeals are not heard by courts, but only within the use of torture at the camp, and more broadly, has been Executive Branch. (along with Bush, Cheney and Rice), responsible for en- These deficiencies meant that the commissions violated couraging and facilitating the abuse of human rights by US the UCMJ. Crucially, the majority also found that the pro- forces all over the world. cedures in question violated the applicable Common Arti- As of today, the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay re- cle 3 of the Geneva Conventions which forbids, absolutely, mains open, and continues to holds over 450 detainees. The “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all overwhelming majority are guilty of nothing more than kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture”, “outrages being caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and de- plight of these men has captured many ordinary people grading treatment”, and “the passing of sentences and the around the world, and in many respects, is representative of carrying out of executions without previous judgment the world in which we now live. However, what has also pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording emerged from the horror of Guantánamo is a group of all the judicial guarantees which are recognised as in- lawyers and campaigners who will not rest until the terror dispensable by civilised peoples.” of Guantánamo is brought to an end. I Whilst the denouncement of the kangaroo courts set up by the Bush administration was a significant G Sadat Sayeed is a at Garden Court Chambers blow to the Bush administration, it has only been G Go to www.haldane.org/news/guantanamo for details of of limited use to the vast majority of detainees at the Haldane campaign to close down Guantánamo

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 23 Picture: Jess Hurd / reportdigital.co.uk 24 system”. to theentireBritishlegal Essentially itisdedicated arrogant andthestupid. thieves, thecorrupt, thugs, bullies,liars, sculpture, “dedicatedto Clerkenwell Green The artistBanksy’s I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 S In theearly1980s, theLegalAidBoardwas rather meagreamounttoasignificant spend. by theLawSociety, thebudgetgrewfroma part ofthewelfarestate.Initially administered of theNHSandeducationalpolicies, asakey Second World War, alongsidethedevelopment The legalaidsystemwasintroduced afterthe The riseoflegalaid:apotted history proven tobesooverwhelminglyvulnerable. my limitedexperienceincriminallaw, have sort. Nordoesthatofmyclients,who,after tainable future,myfutureseemsnothingofthe to acceptthat,despitetheemphasisonasus- bodies. Butthisforesighthasmadeitnoeasier reports producedbyvariousGovernment review oflegalaid,aswellmostotherrecent the Government’s scattergunapproachto its people whoweresoontobemyclients. systematic attackonaparticularclassof vance thattheStatewasmountingyetanother myself lucky:atleastIhadappreciatedinad- tail accesstojustice.MaybeIshouldconsider of theGovernment’s apparentattemptstocur- manding natureofthework,butalsobecause I havereadLordCarter’s report,thelatestin ficult notonlybecauseofthede- aid. Irealisedthatitwouldbedif- cult butrewardingcareerinlegal would bethebeginningofadiffi- on whatIhavealwayshoped ome threemonthsagoIembarked FALL THE RISE AND IMMINENT OF LEGAL AID by Kat Craig

created to take over the administrative role as liberty groups and opposition politicians The imminent fall: fixed fees and a quango. The Access to Justice Act replaced forced the Government to make concessions price competitive tendering the Legal Aid Board with the Legal Services in the form of a statutory right to free legal Alongside the launch of FLAR, the LSC pro- Commission (LSC) in 2000. advice at police stations. With more, although duced a consultation paper on Price Compet- Since its inception, legal aid has been sub- still not most, people in police stations de- itive Tendering (PCT) for criminal legal ject to constant review: the latest round is in manding legal representation, the cost of legal services. The paper was met with outrage from fact the fifth major review of legal aid. How- aid inevitably rose – and rose to the extent that practitioners. Government response was to put ever, there is a worrying trend with which Government began to rethink its spending PCT on hold and to bring in Lord Carter to Carter does not break: when the Government policy on legal aid seriously. undertake a comprehensive review of legal aid decides to draw the line on its commitments, In actual fact, the Government line that expenditure with a view to producing a strat- the profession is left to pick up the pieces. legal aid spending has risen by an enormous egy to deal with the £100million or so over- That said, the UK has made a decent effort 39% in the last 10 years is misleading. The spend. when it comes to legal aid. There has been an costs of running a private practice have risen The current system is based on lawyers get- ongoing recognition that our international by about 60% and spend in the criminal jus- ting paid for the work they do on an ex post obligations, and those under Article 6 (the tice system as a whole has risen by 46%. facto basis. If there is a dispute about the ne- right to a fair trial) in particular, should be met Meanwhile rates of pay for legal aid work cessity of costs incurred, the LSC (or the rele- at all costs. British legal aid spend has tradi- have effectively been frozen. In total, the legal vant costs office) and the lawyer will argue it tionally been greater than in other systems, al- aid spend amounts to just 0.4% of the out. This has posed a problem in the context though this may be attributable more to the budget. of the treasury’s aspiration to cap expenditure nature and requirements of our adversarial Despite the fact that the figures make legal as it is contrary to the ‘there’s no more money system than to any political commitment by aid sound like a bargain, in 2004, the Gov- for legal aid’ mantra. our Government. ernment launched the current phase of Carter, with his ‘review team’, which in- Historically, our criminal legal aid system scrutiny: the Fundamental Legal Aid Review terestingly failed to include any lawyers with has been a demand-led service, where we have (FLAR), a policy review aimed at overhauling experience of legal aid, spent a year develop- responded to the increasing need for defence the entire system. The Government’s message ing a system that will allow Government to lawyers, following the introduction of more at the time was the same as it is now: we need stick to the budget. It is remarkably similar to offences, more complex procedures and more an efficient and fair legal aid system but the PCT and the rationale can be simplified in this complex evidential issues. Government is not prepared to invest in it. In- way: one works backwards from a fixed A good example of this is the introduction terestingly, FLAR never produced a report: in- budget, divided by fixed fees economies of of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 stead it commissioned Lord Carter to scale. Minimal quality standards will be met

(PACE). The new legislation raised serious undertake an ‘independent’ review, at a cost by a system of peer review. Of course, in real- L concerns about suspects’ rights, and so civil of £1.5million. ity to us this means absolving the Government

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 25 L of the responsibility of paying for a decent jus- date it has done little to flex its muscles when tice system by creating a method of payment it comes to Carter. The minor concessions do that only covers part of the inevitable costs not reflect the intentions for the future of the incurred, leaving lawyers to pay for the rest. Bar. The Government is pushing for more so- Fixed fees were instrumental in Carter’s licitor advocates, and less . And while ability to stick to a fixed budget. It’s a simple this may not affect those senior members of concept: instead of paying lawyers for the the Bar, it will most definitely affect those on number of hours actually worked on a case, the junior end. Less and less work will be create an artificial fixed rate that you pay in farmed out by solicitors. all cases. Then, all you need to do is manage Despite noises from the Government that the caseload to manage the budget. Swings Carter is going ahead regardless, there is still and roundabouts should mean that you can time to oppose these proposals in a unified make an overall profit if you are efficient. On manner. And the requisite unity is not impossi- an aside, means testing re-introduced recently ble. Criminal solicitors across the country, with into the Magistrates’ court has apparently led the support of some of the more progressive to a significant reduction in applications and chambers, have responded to the impractical, grants of legal aid. This will go some way to- unsustainable and unjust re-implementation of wards managing the budget, if only by further means testing. Despite a weak professional curtailing access to justice. body and the lack of unionisation, a new, grass- As it stands, proposed rates are punitively roots movement has developed. Starting in the low and the thresholds for escaping them ex- West Country and spreading nationally, a pro- tremely high. This system will not differentiate tocol and suggestions for unified action have the complicated from the simple cases. A been put forward and are being debated in survey carried out by a collective of the main courts around the country. criminal and legal aid bodies, alongside the market models and neo-liberal economics. Together, we should be calling for an in- Law Society, has shown that fixed fees in But commercial market models cannot simply depth and independent assessment of legal aid, police stations and Magistrates courts could be imposed on the provision of legal aid ser- with adequate consultation, on a scale that re- cause firms to face reductions in income of vices. Justice and the law are not the same as flects the importance of the repercussions of 25% of their monthly turnover. If, as I under- a commercial product. any such review. It is not our job to make stand to be the case, very few (if any) legal aid Fixed fees and PCT will inevitably favour policy, but it is our responsibility to stand firm firms have such a profit margin, the introduc- a ‘bigger is better’ mentality in line with the and defend our clients’ long-term interests. But tion of fixed fees will represent a serious loss to ideology of economies of scale. The loss of most of all, we should not be afraid to say that some firms, and worse for many more. This small and niche practices will be irreversible. a good justice system costs money, and that pattern is mirrored in civil work too. Once valuable community-based firms have rising cost is not a result of extravagance on With the best will in the world, there's a been replaced by larger, super-firms, they will lawyers. Good public legal services equate limit beyond which we can do high quality be hard to re-establish. Thirty years of trust with high levels of funding. This is, alas, in- work without payment and be expected to and experience in a community is not easy to escapable. run efficient businesses that will be successful regain, especially by a profession which con- The alternative is a future of advice deserts, in tendering rounds. This will mean that cer- tinues to be viewed sceptically by its clients. loss of established and trusted community tain complex cases simply won’t be taken on practices, miscarriages of justice and lower (if as they would not be cost-effective because So where do we go from here? any) profit margins with knock-on effects such only part of the work required would be re- Picking up the pieces… as less diversity in an already elitist profession. munerated. Where more complex cases are Notwithstanding the poor track record of But most of all, the new regime will mean even taken on, fee-earners will be under pressure lawyers in fighting their own corner, this is the less access to justice to disadvantaged groups. to either do yet more unpaid work or cut cor- time for us to get together and take a stand. Government’s commitment to fair trials has ners. Neither of these options is acceptable. We should withstand the divide-and-rule strat- been replaced by an apparent and incessant And the ones who suffer most will be the most egy which by now we should have become need to cap a fairly modest budget. And the vulnerable clients, who require extra time and wise to. In the long-term, it will make little dif- relative size of the legal aid budget certainly attention, but who don’t meet the bizarrely ference whether these changes are brought in begs the question as to why so much time and high escape threshold of four times the usual on a phased basis or at once, or whether na- energy has been channeled into overhauling rate. tionwide or regionally. If Carter does go ahead the whole system to deal with an overspend of But it gets worse. Fixed fees are to be com- (and Government’s response to representations around £150million – a drop in the Treasury bined with PCT, which seems to be little more on Carter published in November 2006 ocean. than a crude auctioning off of justice. The pro- demonstrate a clear intention to do so), we’re If Government were serious about the posals envisage firms competing for the right in serious trouble. desire to maintain quality, the overspend could to take on legal aid work. The fear is that And this includes the Bar, who have by and be dealt with on a simple quality cull. How- work will simply be allocated to the lowest large accepted Carter, not least because the ever, the proposed system will inevitably drive bidder with minimal standards in relation to Government has simply offered them a slightly quality lawyers out: those same quality quality. better deal. The Bar has, rightly or wrongly, lawyers that use legal aid funds to judicially Legal aid providers already operate in a more influence when it comes to policy. Yet to review new and unfair laws and policies. Even competitive market. It is only in sectors where more importantly, our difficult clients will be there is a desperate shortage of advice and rep- restricted in their challenges if they are unable resentation that there is no competition. And to access the rigour of the law. This will keep in these cases it should be the desperate short- “Despite noises from them homeless, locked up or simply silenced. age, not the lack of competition that preoccu- The disenfranchisement of our vulnerable pies us. Further, the system of PCT has been the Government that clients will be worth many times over tried and tested before without much success Carter is going ahead £150million to Government. But it will be a in the US. Although the price went down in terrible loss to our society. the short-term, it rose in the long-term as a regardless, there is still It is time to stand up for our clients, some cartel was created driving up the price. of whom are vulnerable, if at times unpopular, Carter’s short-term vision, combining fixed time to oppose these members of society. Now is the time to act. If fees with PCT, will lead to a cull on the basis we fail to do so now, access to justice will of costs, not quality. These latest proposals proposals…” become a privilege for a few, rather than a highlight the Government’s obsession with right for all. I

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Tel ...... Signed ...... Date ...... Please send this form to: The Membership Secretary, Haldane Society, PO Box 57055, London EC1P 1AF Picture: Jess Hurd / reportdigital.co.uk I 22 media knowingtheywillneverbemadeto ficers arehappytolieintheirbriefingsthe Forest Gateraiddemonstratingthatpoliceof- in thepublicdomainbypoliceofficersafter pression thathedidnothingwrong. lowed tocontinueinhispost,givingtheim- police officerinthecountry, hehasbeenal- mark investigationagainstthemostsenior aftermath oftheshooting,butdespitethisland- information aboutthekillinginimmediate allegations thathisofficersputoutmisleading police, isstillunderinvestigationfor‘coverup’ Sir IainBlair, theheadofMetropolitan cently isreportedtohavekilledsomeoneelse. head hasreturnedtofirearmsdutiesandre- the marksmenwhofiredshotsintoJean’s been awardedaCBE.Moreshockingly, oneof head oftheMet’s anti-terrorismoperationshas Assistant CommissionerandAndyHayman, of theoperationhasbeenpromotedtoDeputy warded. CressidaDick,theGoldCommander cers involvedintheshootinghavebeenre- see thatratherthanbeingreprimanded,offi- injury forthefamily. killing oftheirlovedonehasaddedinsultto pended orevendisciplinedforthedeliberate single policeofficerhasbeenprosecuted;sus- year hasbeenadmirable.Thefactthatnota strength oftheMenezesfamilyoverlast In lightofthesechallenges,thedignityand Rewarded notreprimanded kill’ policy, OperationKratosremainsinplace. journed untilatleast2008andthe‘shootto for Jean’s killing;theinquestintohisdeathad- into hisdeath;anypoliceofficersprosecuted family havenotseeneitheroftheIPCCreports and ahalfafterJean’s killingtheMenezes more innocentlivesbeinglost.Almostayear armed policingstrategythatcouldleadto these agenciesandcontinuestosupportan ment thatrefusestocriticisetheinactionof (CPS). Theyhavebeenletdownbyagovern- (IPCC) andtheCrownProsecutionService pendent PoliceComplaintsCommission agencies oftheMetropolitanPolice,Inde- ing butcontemptbythecombinedstatutory Menezes familyhavebeentreatedwithnoth- teen monthssincethatfatefuldayinJuly. The statutory agencieshasnotimprovedinthesix- British justicesystemthattheirtreatmentby representation. Itisasadindictmentofthe someone else” to haverecently killed duties andisreported to firearms returned Jean’s head has who fired theshotsinto “One ofthemarksmen I and werenotadvisedtheymayneedlegal London. Theyhadtheirphonelinescutoff anonymous hotelonthefaroutskirtsof Metropolitan policeandholedupinan Menezes familywerewhiskedoffbythe n theimmediatedaysafterJeandied, Exactly thesamemisinformationwasput For themithasbeenextremelypainfulto Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 the usualimpunityofferedinpoliceshootings. that suchaprosecutionisstepforwardfrom used foradeathincustody. Somehaveargued tion, thefirsttimesuchaprosecutionhasbeen politan policeunderhealthandsafetylegisla- In Julythisyear, theCPSchargedMetro- Posturing overprosecutions status asbeingabovethelawanddueprocess. investigation, policeofficersaregivenaspecial teacher ornursesaresuspendedwhilstunder mature. Whilstotherpublicservantslike gation hadbeencompletediscompletelypre- put backonfrontlinedutybeforetheinvesti- for officersinvolvedinsuspiciousdeathstobe answer forit.TheMenezescasehighlightsthat family andwhatcanbedonenow… the strugglesfacedbyMenezes de MenezesFamilyCampaign,looksat Yasmin Khan head byMetropolitan policeofficers. carriage andshotseventimesinthe was pinneddownonaLondontube In July2005,a27-year-old Brazilianman O JEAN? FOR JUSTICE , from theJeanCharles how littleinvestigationsintodeathsinpolice made basedonsecretreportshighlightsjust review Thefactthatsuchdecisionscanbe was announcedandafterthreatofjudicial very recently, severalmonthsafterthedecision the Menezesfamilyortheirlegalteamuntil into hisdeathwhichtheyrefusedtodisclose prosecute anyofficersonthefirstIPCCreport payer). TheCPSbasedtheirdecisionnotto tion, ofcourse,ultimatelypaidforbythetax penalty thatcanbeawardedisafine.(Asanc- organisation’s policiesandthemaximum Sir IainBlairisnotrequiredtoaccountforhis dividual canbeheldresponsibleforthecrime, that wascommitted.Underthisoffence,noin- But itiscompletelyinappropriateforthecrime in thebackground picture ofherdeadson London lastyear, a meeting attheLSEin at afamilycampaign Jean Charles,speaking Menezes, themotherof Maria Otonede custody have moved forward under the IPCC wish to portray Jean’s death as either a mistake arena. Given the seriousness and sheer extent as opposed to the old discredited investigations or the price we must get used to paying because of the issues that have been thrown up by the system of the Police Complaints Authority. the rules of the game have changed. But Jean case a public inquiry may be the only way to When the IPCC was established after many died as a result of a fundamental change in get all of the facts into the public domain. This years campaigning by families who had lost policing policy which was never subject to any would enable the action (or inaction) of all the loved ones in police custody, the public and be- public or parliamentary scrutiny. The longer agencies involved to be fully examined and for reaved families expected there to be a change. that there are delays in bringing a public inves- wider policy issues that would fall out of any The experience of the Menezes family shows tigation into Jean’s the death the harder it be- inquest proceedings to be addressed. that nothing has changed. Families are still ex- comes for individuals to be held accountable Despite the set backs suffered this year, the cluded from information about the investiga- and for the police’s anti-terrorism tactics to be Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign tory process and police officers are not challenged. The Forest Gate shooting narrowly will be continuing its fight for justice until prosecuted or even disciplined for deaths for escaped being another innocent fatality. How someone is held responsible for the killing of an which they may be responsible. many more shootings will occur before these innocent man. This December, the family, rep- tactics are subject to public scrutiny? Public resented by their excellent legal team, have Taking the fight forward support for the Menezes campaign is needed been given permission to apply to judicial Some in the police service and the government now to bring these issues into the political review the decisions by the CPS not to prose- cute any individual officers and the decision by the IPCC not to disclose their report into his death. A shadow will hang over all those in- volved in Jean’s killing until there is an open and public investigation into his death, rather than secret reports and impunity for anyone wearing a uniform.

The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign Who we are: On the 22nd July 2005 Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by police at Stockwell tube station. He was shot seven times in the head whilst reportedly, being restrained. The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Cam- paign was founded by the friends and family of Jean to: • Find out the truth about Jean’s death; • Bring all those responsible for his death to justice; • Campaign to end the ‘shoot to kill’ policy and prevent a similar tragedy happening again. The campaign is led by the Menezes family with support from justice and civil rights campaigners. What we have done: Since Jean’s death we have supported the Menezes family in their ongoing struggle for justice by organising public meetings; demon- strations; memorial services and vigils. We have produced briefings; organised press confer- ences; written articles; spoken at national and international events; met MP’s and foreign dig- nitaries including the President of Brazil. We have shown support to other families who have died in police custody and to the Forest Gate family who were subject to a police shooting in a similar botched Anti-Terror raid. What you can do: • Raise the issue with elected representatives; • Write letters to newspapers when the issue is covered; • Organise a meeting and invite us to speak; • Affiliate or join to the campaign – email [email protected] for more details; • Donate money. The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Cam- paign needs ongoing public support in order to campaign, anything that you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. The campaign is run entirely by volunteers and is able to func- tion solely by donations from members of the public. If you would like to make a financial donation to the campaign, please send a cheque payable to ‘Jean Charles de Menezes Cam- paign’ to: Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign, PO Box 273, London E7. Go to www.justice4jean.com for more details. I

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 23 30 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 Pictures: Jess Hurd / reportdigital.co.uk ‘All the gains that have been made have been won by struggle’ Tony Benn was the guest speaker at the Haldane Society’s Annual General Meeting in October. Here we print extracts from his talk

’m a bit over-awed at meeting lawyers. I liberties and the battle allegedly against ter- once appeared in court and made a speech rorism. I remember 1939, when I was four- that lasted for nine days trying to get out of teen years old, when under the Emergency the House of Lords. The result was that two Powers Act and Regulation 18b people were judges said that a peerage was an incorpo- detained because they were foreign or hostile real hereditament affixed in the blood and to British interests. Among the people who Iannexed to posterity. On that basis Bristol were put in prison was a Tory MP called Cap- South East lost its MP. I spoke to the Haldane tain Ramsey. So, when you look at America Society on the 19th December 1979, and I’ve and its Patriot Act and its latest Military Com- been to events since and all I want to do missions Act which virtually allows President tonight very modestly is reflect on things. Bush to arrest and detain Americans as well as Two changes I thought might interest you – foreigners, it’s not the first time that anyone in 1928 I met a Labour MP, when I was three. has eroded civil liberties in the light of some His name was , and you all foreign threat know what happened to him. I‘ve also met In Britain, we’re told we have domestic many of the people locked up at the time of problems about crime. It looks to me as if the the British empire as terrorists and trouble editor of the News of the World is now effec- makers and they all ended up having tea with tively the Home Secretary, because the spin the queen, so I am a bit sceptical about terror- doctors have warned the prime minister that ism. From prison to commonwealth confer- the power of the media is so strong, you dare ences is something we ought to think about. not alienate them on matters of law and order. Can I say a word of genuine tribute to the The shift from Stalin to Blair is in my opinion Haldane Society, because I am an old libertar- a very very minor shift as proved by the cur- ian? You’ve made arguments for trade union rent Home Secretary. rights, for women’s rights, and, recently, a very These days, I find some very surprising powerful case with the help of Bill Bowring on allies. I heard the debate on the terrorism leg- the illegality of the war in Iraq. I and many islation in the House of Lords the other day. others signed the presentation which went to Tom King (Mrs Thatcher’s secretary of state the Human Rights Commissioner, who replied for Northern Ireland) got up and said all we saying that it raised matters of serious concern. ever did in the Maze prison was to recruit ter- The idea of the illegality of the war is some- rorists. I thought that was just really very in- thing that needs to be kept in the forefront of teresting. people’s . The war was also immoral, On the left we have always been a bit sus- but that never counts nowadays, and it is un- picious of the law, but then I met Lord winnable. That last point is having a huge MacKay of Clashfern who was apoplectic effect in America but I wouldn’t want to ad- about the way that Brian Haw has been vocate an end of the war simply on the treated – the man who sits in Parliament

grounds that you can’t win it. Square and has done for many many years and L The other question is the question of civil was tried under the Serious Crime and Disor-

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 31 L der Act for the offence of putting up slogans saying thou shalt not kill and love they neigh- bour. That is now serious crime and disorder. Brian Haw only got around it because the judges said well you have been doing it before the legislation came in but otherwise he would have been locked up. I find John Major was very much against identity cards. And so you must not assume that it is always left and right. There are authoritarian leftists and some libertarian rightists. I think the question of liberty is one that everybody particularly socialists need to have in mind. More broadly, people are beginning to re- alise that the role of fear, whether real or imag- ined, is a very important element in the maintenance of the power of the establish- ment. The fear of the danger of invasion, the danger of revolution or the danger of riot jus- tifies governments in doing anything they want to do. In the First World War, they used to say about the Germans that they were melting down the bodies of British soldiers to make fat to lubricate their ammunition, although when I look at the First World War, it was a war fought between three of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren, and you ask yourself what was that really about? Then the First World War triggered off communism in Russian and fascism in Ger- many, and so in the 1920s and 1930s it was the communist that frightened the British es- tablishment. Then during the war it was Hitler (though Truman, the man who founded NATO and also was the man who authorised the atomic bomb in 1945, said that if the Ger- mans seemed to be wining, we should help the Russians and if the Russians seemed to be wining, we should help the Germans). Now that the questions of the reds are out of the way, it’s the Muslims and in no time at all, it will be the Chinese. I think the Home Office have already prepared people to go into every Chinese take away in case they are doing propaganda from Beijing. I am sure we shall have a lot of civil liberties questions on behalf of take away owners who said they have noth- ing whatever to do with the Chinese Central Communist Party which was introducing cap- italism at an amazing speed. Now if I try to look at the law from an ob- jective point of view, I put it to you that the contemporary law always reflects the balance of power in society at that particular moment. A lot is said about Magna Carta as the foun- dation of our legal rights, actually Magna Carta was a row between the King and the Barons and he wasn’t strong enough to beat the Barons so he had to make some conces- sions, it had nothing to do with the common people at all. The Bill of Rights was negotiated in a conflict between the King and Parliament and enforced on the King by Parliament. The growth of the democratic vote in the nine- teenth century was as a result of a recognition firstly of the power of the trade unions when the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sent to Australia as convicts. And later when the trade unions won the argument that people had rights. Trade unions were recognised properly in the 1906 Trades Disputes Act which is being cited by quite a number of progressive lawyers now.

32 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 conceptions that flow from it. That of course is the most brilliant analysis of the way in “We don’t elect the which technology shapes our society. When I was Minister of Technology I put that out in a head of state [or] the number of ministerial statements but I didn’t tell my officials who wrote it. If you look at the House of Lords but we history of the world – the stone age, the iron do have the right to get age, the industrial age, the space age, the com- puter age, the nuclear age – all of them have rid of governments – changed the balance of power in society one way or the other. In the feudal period of course that is very important” the land was so valuable that the government of the day privatised the land in the famous Enclosure Acts. I once went to the House of I have a quote on the role of labour and I Commons and said I want to repeal the En- will give you a prize if you can guess who said closure Act and they said what do you mean it. Capital is only the fruit of labour and could there are 10,000 of them. The last armed land never have existed if labour had not first ex- raid in the United Kingdom was in 1922 when isted; labour is a superior capital and deserves some people in Scotland went to recapture the much higher consideration. Who was that? land that had been taken away three years Abraham Lincoln 1861. So don’t ever under- before. These issues do not ever, ever disap- estimate the fact that there has been an under- pear. standing even in the 19th century United States The computer age is probably the most sig- of the rights of labour. nificant of all. The internet has an impact with Take the effect of democracy – the more I the way the police can police us all. All this af- think about it I see how revolutionary democ- fects the way in which we are governed. Of racy is. What democracy did was to transfer course modern technology has created the power from the wallet to the ballot, from the multi national corporation and the American market to the polling station. After the Mu- empire just as the technology of the past cre- nicipal Corporations Act 1837 Birmingham ated old empires. Genghis Khan succeeded be- set up municipal schools, municipal fire cause he had the means of delivery – which brigade, municipal hospitals, later on muse- was a horse – and the war head – which was ums and art galleries, before democracy came gun powder which we invented. Genghis Khan in. The power to be educated, have a home, went into Iraq in 1258 and killed a million look after your old age was in the hands of the Iraqis and that was a product of Chinese wealthy. After that came the welfare state power. Similarly the British empire grew up as which was a product of democracy. the first industrialised nation. Now we have The final example of the balance of power the full impact of the American empire which being reflected in the law was the UN charter. I think is in decline but wounded tigers can be After the Second World War there was a new very very dangerous. The American empire is objective to avert war because of the massive trying to fill the gap left by the British Empire suffering that the war had caused. The pre- – we invaded Afghanistan in 1834, captured amble of the UN charter says “we, the people Kabul, and were booted out 18 months later of the United Nations, determine to save suc- at the loss of 15,000 troops. We invaded Egypt ceeding generations from the scourge of war in 1882, and did not get out until in 1955, and which twice in our lifetime has caused untold then went in again a year later officially as a suffering to mankind.” peacekeeping mission to keep the Israelis out Those words are inscribed in my heart be- but really to recapture the canal. We were in cause I was coming back in the troop ship in Palestine of course – the mandate given to us the summer of 1945. That was a reflection of by the UN for many many years. We were in the law at the time and was totally brushed Iraq. What has happened is, as the British aside when we went into Iraq. empire has collapsed, the Americans are trying Now the other thing to understand is that to go in and this argument that it is about all the gains that have been made have been democracy, or it is about terrorism is absolute won by struggle against the British ruling class. rubbish. It is the intention by the United States I don’t know if it’s true of others, but the to re-occupy the role we occupied in the British ruling class always gave way rather Middle East with the special reason now that than go to the guillotine. The French ruling it is about oil and power. class would prefer the guillotine than give way, So now I want to come to the question that but following the English revolution the Eng- I hope will trigger your interests most of all. lish ruling classes were very very clever. If you What is the effect this has had on the democ- press them, they concede in order to survive racy that we have so far obtained? We never and then what they do after that is to try to really completed democracy. We don’t elect the diffuse the pressure by co-opting the leaders head of state, we don’t elect the House of (such as putting trade unionist leaders in the Lords but we do have the right to get rid of House of Lords). At the moment there is not governments – that is very important. I once much sign that they are in a position to con- worked out my five democratic questions. If cede the pressure because the pressure isn’t as you meet a powerful person, ask them five great as it should be. questions: I came across a very nice quotation: tech- What powers have you got? nology discloses man’s mode of dealing with Where did you get them from? nature, the process of production by which he In whose interests do you exercise them? sustains his life and thereby lays bare the for- To whom you are accountable? mation of his social relations and the mental And how can we get rid of you? I

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 33 BookReviews

advice. The ‘cut off’ point for women who are experiencing Informing, educating and legal aid means that very few domestic violence, our women are eligible for free legal motivation for writing From A advice and even if they are, legal to Z: A Woman’s Guide to the empowering women on aid deserts mean that finding a Law was broader. Through our solicitor who is able to see them work giving legal advice and their legal rights is increasingly difficult. Over the delivering training we knew past five years, there has been an there was a huge demand for 18% drop in the number of more general information about Domestic From A to Z: advice cases started under legal the law across a wide range of Violence DIY A Woman’s aid. areas. This demand came from Injunction Guide to the It is against this background women who wanted information Handbook Law that Rights of Women launched so that they could make more (2nd ed Rights of two new publications, the informed decisions as well as Rights of Women Domestic Violence DIY from lawyers and advisers who Women Injunction Handbook (2nd ed) wanted basic information about and From A to Z: A Woman’s unfamiliar areas of law to enable Guide to the Law. them to advise their clients and First published in 2000 the service users more fully. From A Domestic Violence DIY to Z covers an extensive range of ights of Women is a being knocked unconscious by Injunction Handbook explains legal topics including: asylum feminist organisation that their partners while 5% had the legal remedies available to and immigration law, criminal Rhas been campaigning for sustained broken bones women who are experiencing law, discrimination and gender equality for the past 30 (Elizabeth Stanko, Debbie Crisp, domestic violence under Part IV employment law, family law, years. During that time we have Chris Hale and Hebe Lucraft of the Family Law Act 1996. It housing, human rights law and advised thousands of women on (1997) Counting the Costs: has helped thousands of women welfare and consumer rights. the law and their legal rights on Estimating the Impact of apply for and get protection As with all our publications a variety of issues including Domestic Violence in the from the courts. This 2nd From A to Z is written to make family, employment, and London Borough of Hackney, edition has been updated to it as clear, accessible and criminal law, particularly in Swindon: Crime Concern). On include all the relevant changes comprehensive as possible and relation to domestic and sexual average a woman will have been in the Domestic Violence Crime covers everything from violence. We are the only assaulted 35 times before she and Victims’ Act 2004 that are abduction to zero tolerance organisation in England and contacts the police for help. In in force. taking in issues like judicial Wales that has a dedicated legal terms of the correlation between The handbook is in two review, no recourse to public advice line for survivors of domestic violence and sexual parts, the first going through the funds and trafficking on the way. sexual violence. violence women are most likely legal framework, the types of It is the only publication of its Domestic violence is the to be raped by men they know order available and who can kind in the UK. Harriet Harman, largest cause of morbidity and 50% involve repeated apply. The second part is a step- QC, MP (Minister of State in the worldwide in women aged 19- assaults by the same man. The by-step guide which goes Department of Constitutional 44, greater than war, cancer or percentage of rapes reported to through how to complete the Affairs) said that From A to Z road accidents. According to the the police in 2004 in England application form, write a “…is a vital guide to help British Crime Survey (2004-05 and Wales which resulted in witness statement, prepare women get their rights in a legal report) domestic violence kills conviction was just 5.29%. supporting evidence, represent system where laws are mainly two women each week and Until recently, domestic yourself in court and enforce the made by men and judged by men accounts for 16% of all violent violence was seen as a private injunction. The book has been in an overwhelmingly male legal crime. 1 in 4 incidents of matter. Less than 15 years ago a so successful with individual profession.” domestic violence result in Commissioner for the women, law centres and support We hope that these new serious physical injury. 10% of Metropolitan police questioned organisations not just because it publications will empower 129 women surveyed in North whether it could be considered a contains all the information individual women to seek London GP surgeries reported “crime” at all. Attitudes within needed about applying to the protection from the law and to the police, CPS and court have courts for protection but understand and secure their legal From A to Z “…is changed and are continuing to because it presents it in such an rights as well as help all women a vital guide to do so but there is no doubt that accessible and clear way. We by contributing to the struggle help women get women are still routinely denied hope that this second edition for equality. their rights in a protection from violence. will prove to be even more G Cate Briddick, Legal Officer, legal system where One of the central problems effective than the first in Rights of Women laws are mainly women face in accessing justice enabling women to get the I For more information about made by men and judged by men in is finding legal representation. protection from the courts that Rights of Women and to order an overwwhelmingly Carter may have died a quiet they need. copies of The Domestic Violence male legal (but expensive) death but While we produced the DIY Injunction Handbook (£8) and profession.” Harriet women still face considerable Domestic Violence DIY From A to Z (£10) visit our website Harman QC, MP difficulties in accessing legal Injunction Handbook to assist at www.rightsofwomen.org.uk

34 I Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 Moazzam Begg: the first insider’s account of life for detainees in Guantánamo Enemy focus by the book. Combatant. The book goes into A British interesting detail of Moazzam’s Muslim’s background and the reasons he Journey to chose to live in Afghanistan. Guantán- One being the wish to live amo and somewhere where his wife might Back not be stared at when going to Moazzam the shops dressed in a hijab. Begg How many Muslims will be (with Victoria Brittain) seeking refuge elsewhere now? £18.99 Free Press The book ends with Moazamm’s release. It perhaps oazzam Begg provides stops short on the impact of his the first insider’s account detention on his life – this would Mof life for detainees in the have been interesting to read infamous prison in Guantánamo more about. Bay. Detained first in Pakistan, Moazamm hopes that, “one he was taken, hooded, shackled of the more ambitious aims of and cuffed to Kandahar and this book is to find some then finally onto Guantánamo. common ground between people Never charged with a crime and on opposing sides of this new with no explanation for his war, to introduce the voice of detention, he was finally reason, which is so frequently Pictures: / reportdigital.co.uk Jess Hurd released in early 2005. terrifying and compelling read. opening of the prison in January drowned by the roar of hatred Enemy Combatant provides a You might want to wait though, 2007. and intolerance.” searing indictment of Camp for the paperback, which should That it is still open and For that reason alone it is a Xray. Currently out in be out in time to co-incide with detainees including British must read. hardback, it is a gripping, the five year anniversary of the residents is brought into sharp G Rebekah Wilson

Standing on movement of people. Just as or “humane” controls is a con- “escort” services. The latest the “…the Nazi extermination pro- tradiction in terms. “A system of Home Secretary assured Parlia- Shoulders of gramme was preceded in time law built historically on fascist ment that he had over 400 full- Fascism: by the forced, brutal, mass de- activity could never be humane.” time staff now coping with the from portation of Jews.” Reminiscent of Thatcher’s elec- “problem” – of 1000 people immigration Three questions emerge. Can tion-winning slogan “Labour who had served their time but control to anti-fascist and anti-immigra- isn’t working”, Home Secretary were going to be rounded up, the strong tion control movements ever Charles Clarke was removed be- detained again, and then de- state join together? Is it possible to cause his system of deportation ported. This new triple punish- by Steve Cohen argue for “fair” or even of non-British prisoners “wasn’t ment exceeds the objections of £17.99, Trentham Books “benign” controls? Can the suc- working”. But no one subject to the “Manifesto of the Cam- cess of individual anti-deporta- immigration controls wants paign Against Double Punish- s soon as it became ob- tion campaigns translate into them to “work better” when ment”, of the early 1990s, vious that he (Jean opposition to all immigration what this means is yet more, usefully appended by the “A Charles de Menezes) controls? firmer, faster, and furious, un- author. was himself not involved in ter- (In reverse order) the author challengeable removals. Includ- Third, there is no choice. rorism, the Home Office sug- first suggests that it is only ing those “criminals” who have There is no third way. Collusion gested he had overstayed his through self-organisation of the been (re-)detained for crimes of with the machinery of immigra- leave in the UK – as though this “undocumented”, in militant fabricating documents simply be- tion control stands shoulder-to- somehow justified his being campaigns, that victory can be cause they wanted to work (le- shoulder with collusion with the shot dead.” achieved. This requires solidar- gitimate work, paying taxes and fascists. Local authorities, vol- In this collection of essays, ity, not pity. “The struggle national insurance, contributing untary services, even lawyers, new and old, Steve Cohen against controls is only politi- to society – and economy). all have to take sides. demonstrates that immigration cally effective when it is threat- Indeed, the Immigration and But the question of how - controls are not so much stand- ening, when it involves masses Nationality Department em- how anti-fascist and anti-immi- ing on the shoulders as seeped of people in struggle, when it re- ploys 17,392 people – whose gration control movements can in every fibre of their being with fuses to make any concessions job in 2004 was to remove make effective common cause – fascist overtones. And that they to the ideology of immigration 56,920 other human beings. is another story. Still waiting, have always been so. Fascist up- control, when it represents a Not to mention the private con- still needing, to unfold - and be surges have prefaced all legisla- danger to the state.” tractors who manage removal told. tive and practical controls of Second, the notion of “just” centres and immigration G John Nicholson

Socialist Lawyer G December 2006 I 35 Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers Human Rights Lecture Series: 2007 / Number 1 Does Britain need anti- terrorism laws? Speakers: Michael Mansfield, QC Gareth Peirce, solicitor Tayab Ali, solicitor £10 entrance fee free to students/pupils/trainees/unwaged Wednesday 24th January, all welcome London South Bank University, 6.30pm Further information from www.haldane.org