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Press Release

Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee visits suspected international terrorists detained in the UK

STRASBOURG, 22.02.2002 - A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has just completed a five-day visit to the United Kingdom. The main purpose of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons certified by the UK's Secretary of State to be suspected international terrorists and detained pursuant to the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.

The CPT's delegation interviewed, in private, all persons currently detained as a result of the provisions of the 2001 Act. It also examined their conditions of detention in Belmarsh Prison's high security unit and Highdown Prison.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer, welcomed this visit as a positive signal for co-operation between the British Government and the Council in Strasbourg. At the same time he reiterated the importance of all legal measures against terrorism being proportionate and balanced according to the Council of Europe's universal values of human rights, the rule of law and democracy.

The information gathered by the CPT during its visit to the United Kingdom and its consultations with the UK authorities are confidential, in accordance with Article 11 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Mr Schwimmer expressed his hope that the United Kingdom will agree to make the CPT's findings available to the public.

Additional Information

• The visit began on 17 February 2002. It was the Committee's seventh visit to the United Kingdom. 
• The visit was carried out by two members of the CPT, Mario FELICE, a Maltese lawyer (Head of delegation), and Eugenijus GEFENAS, a Lithuanian doctor. They were assisted by Jan MALINOWSKI of the CPT's Secretariat. 
• In the course of its visit, the CPT's delegation met Martin NAREY, Director General of the Prison Service, and Peter ATHERTON, Director of High Security Prisons. It also had consultations with Mark de PULFORD, Head of the Human Rights Unit in the Lord Chancellor's Department and Robert WHALLEY, Head of the Terrorism and Protection Unit in the Home Office's Organised and International Crime Directorate.