UK: DEMOCRACY

Guardian: 'Secret' detainee tells of jail despair

Terror suspect held for two years says he suffered mental breakdown that led to transfer to Broadmoor from high-security prison

A man detained in Britain without charge or trial for two years on the basis of secret evidence he can neither know about nor challenge has told of his despair at his treatment under anti-terrorist legislation.
Exactly two years after he was arrested at his family home in the early hours and taken to Belmarsh high-security prison, Mahmoud Abu Rideh is the first of 14 detainees held on suspicion of terrorism to speak out publicly, through a letter sent to the Guardian.

In it, he tells of his horror at his arrest, his humiliation in prison and the deterioration of his mental health. He has now been moved to the high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, says the detainees are all suspected international terrorists with links to al-Qaida or related groups and that the anti-terrorist legislation under which they are held, passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, is essential to safeguard the public.

Human rights groups, however, have condemned detentions based on secret evidence without a criminal trial. On Thursday, the privy counsellors review committee, a cross-party group of MPs set up by Mr Blunkett, which spent 18 months reviewing the act, called for it to be scrapped.

Mr Abu Rideh claims his experiences since his arrest are an indictment of Britain. "Is this the civilisation of London? Is this Europe civilisation in the 21st century?" It was a month before he was allowed to call a lawyer and six months before he saw his wife and children.