Question
[...] v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHL 56 (also known as the ‘Belmarsh case’). This case concerned the detention of a number of suspected terrorists held in Belmarsh Prison under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Section 23 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001permitted detention of suspected international terrorists without charge or trial. Such detention was presumed incompatible with Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and so the UK initially lodged a derogation from this Article (through the Human Rights Act 1998 (Designated Derogation) Order 2001) in order to allow it to pass the above measure in the first place. However, the House of Lords ruled that the derogation did not satisfy the criteria required: as a result, they quashed the derogation order which then allowed them to issue a declaration of incompatibility in respect of section 23 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.