Glasgow Central SNP candidate Osama Saeed has urged Parliament to finally vote out the control order regime today.
Control orders allow the government to place individuals under virtual house arrest and has been criticised by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UNHCR. In the last year a number of detainees have won court cases against their treatment.
The measures were voted in by Parliament in 2005 after remarkable “ping pong” with the House of Lords. A compromise sunset clause was reached meaning that the government’s powers have to be renewed each year.
Saeed made a particular appeal to Glasgow Central MP Mohammad Sarwar to vote against the powers in his last vote on the issue before retiring this year. Sarwar’s original support for control orders attracted heavy criticism, as has his backing for other draconian Labour measures such as 90 days pre-charge detention.
Osama Saeed commented:
“That this state of affairs exists in our country is astonishing. If someone is suspected of a crime, they should be arrested, charged and put on trial. There should not be this halfway house allowing the government to essentially lock people up indefinitely on the basis of secret courts hearing secret evidence that may be gleaned from torture somewhere else in the world.
“The measures are fundamentally anti-liberty and are a mark of how far Labour have slipped from basic principles of freedom and justice."
Further reading:
Open letter to Home Secretary
Liberty's control orders page
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