By KUNA,
Paris : A public hearing will be held at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday in a case brought against the British government by eleven terror suspects who were detained in high-security conditions following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Council of Europe said here Tuesday that the applicants, none of whom have British nationality, were “allegedly involved in extreme Islamist terrorist groups with links to Al-Qaeda.
“All eleven were taken into detention at various times between December 2001 and October 2003,” and were initially held at a prison in London under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, the Council added.
Three of the men were subsequently transferred to a mental hospital following deterioration in their mental health, including a suicide attempt.
Following visits in February 2002 and March 2004, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) had criticized the applicants’ conditions of detention in the prison where they were detained, as well as the hospital and reported allegations of “ill-treatment by staff.” The CPT noted, in particular, that the applicants’ poor mental state was “exacerbated by the indefinite nature of their detention.” According to the Council, “the British Government categorically rejected the suggestion that the applicants were treated in an inhuman or degrading manner at any point during their detention.” Following a number of legal rulings in the UK, and relying on several different articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicants are complaining about the psychiatric harm they suffered as a result of their detention under the 2001 Act and claim, among other things, that their detention was unlawful.