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Britain's Guantanamo

EIGHT MEN, imprisoned on suspicion of being 'linked to' terrorism, are suffering from: "Major depressive anxiety disorder and some are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder".

Clare Wilkins

The men have been imprisoned without trial for nearly three years in Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons. They were all arrested soon after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. They were arrested using the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Classified as Category A prisoners they are locked up 20 to 24 hours a day. Six of the men are from Algeria, one from Tunisia and one from Gaza in Palestine.

A team of eleven consultant psychiatrists and one consultant psychologist interviewed the eight men and three of their wives. Their report shows that all of the men have self-harmed and considered suicide.

The psychologist says of the conditions in which the men are held: "Where they have no control of their own situation, this is a sense of mental torture". This is especially so because they have no information about why they are being detained and almost no contact with their families.

The medical team found an alarming similarity in the symptoms of depression and anxiety that the men are suffering. Some of the detainees have developed psychotic symptoms that they did not have before they were imprisoned.

The psychiatrists do not consider that the men's mental health problems can be alleviated while they remain in detention. Indeed: "It is highly likely that they will continue to deteriorate".

Post-traumatic stress

All three wives who were interviewed also show signs of clinical depression and one has post-traumatic stress disorder due to her husband's arrest.

The men's lawyer says that the Home Office was considering transferring four of the eight to Broadmoor, a high security mental hospital.

Police had questioned none of the men before they were arrested. They have not been charged with any offence nor have they been told anything about any evidence against them.

They are being held solely on the basis that the Home Secretary: "Has a suspicion that they are linked to a person or group that might be said to be supportive of the aims of al-Qa'ida".

One of the psychiatrists said that all the men have a sense of hopelessness and helplessness because, unlike other prisoners, they have no idea of when they will be released and no chance of parole.

Three of the detainees experienced detention and torture before they came to Britain. The way they are now being treated is "reminiscent" of their previous trauma.

Recently the men have had a number of privileges withdrawn. They are only allowed books in their own languages if they can pay for an accurate English translation. They are no longer allowed to receive clothes.

Professor Nigel Eastman, who chaired the meeting at the Royal College of Psychiatry about the findings, said that it was not for the experts to question the need for the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act. The findings touch on the mental effects of the legislation and: "Whether as a society, we should have laws that override ordinary civil rights".

Britain is the only country of the 45 states in the Council of Europe to have suspended the legal right to trial in this sort of case. Along with the USA, Britain has a policy of indefinite detention.

Detainees left to rot

ILL TREATMENT is not just the experience of the high-profile Belmarsh detainees. Many foreign national detainees on extradition charges in Britain are also suffering - because of the convoluted and politically motivated nature of the law in this country.

Zoe Hepden, a former worker in a remand prison

These forgotten individuals are often subjected to the dehumanising complexities of international law and Kafkaesque bureaucracy, and many are victims of the post 9/11 climate of fear created by our governments.

Many of these detainees have been forgotten or ignored by the rules that support good practice in the justice system. Because they are suspected of breaking the law, this treatment is somehow deemed acceptable. In my experience, the justice system treats foreign nationals differently from UK citizens.

Just like the Belmarsh detainees, these people are being denied fundamental human rights and often show worrying signs of deteriorating mental and physical health.

Extradition is the procedure by which an individual is delivered from one country to another which has requested it, to face prosecution, or to serve a sentence. Many of the extradition cases I have encountered are extremely complicated. The process can take years, especially if extradition is being fought.

The person awaiting or fighting extradition is rarely already convicted of any crime but they are often treated as if they have been, without the rights of a British convicted criminal.

Detainees are held in custody as if they are on remand. Normally, remand time is regulated. But this does not apply to extradition detainees.

Most extradition detainees quickly use up the minimal services on offer to them. In my experience, these services help to distract the detainee from his or her situation. Once these services have been used up, they are rarely offered anything else.

The outcome of this is that their mental health starts to decline. All of the men I worked with were allowed access to basic skills training. But they were not allowed access to further or higher distance learning, because of prison regulations. Taking away any prospect of using time to good purpose is very destructive.

In the same prison, one 'criminal' extradition detainee who was riddled with cancer was not allowed proper medical treatment. He was only allowed aspirin and was told that this was because health is not covered in the extradition laws the UK has with his country. No-one will claim responsibility for his wellbeing. Eventually, this man began to believe that there was an international conspiracy against him and that the prison's governor had been told to keep him quiet.

Asylum seekers

But the greatest injustices are the cases of those whose detention and extradition is somehow related to asylum or counter-terrorism. I met many asylum seekers in the remand prison where I worked. None of them had committed any crime, they were merely waiting for their asylum claim to be processed, or awaiting deportation.

One extradition detainee I worked with was detained in April 2002 in the UK because, he was told, he was living here as an 'illegal immigrant'. He had in fact been given temporary residence in the UK and was claiming asylum.

He has never been charged with any crime. He is now fighting extradition to Italy, where he originally arrived after escaping from his home country. The Italian government believes he is part of the 'al-Qa'ida network' for no reason that he can think of, other than that he is a Muslim and was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was swept up in post 9/11 hysteria and discrimination. If he is extradited to Italy he will be deported to his home country.

He has very little to occupy his endless time. Because of his supposed links to terrorism, his reading material is monitored. Because he is an extradition prisoner and not a UK citizen he is refused the slightest request. He laughs at the idea that he is dangerous and spends his time walking around and around in a circle, learning the Koran by heart.

The last time I saw him, I was very concerned for his mental health. He is getting thinner and thinner. This man has literally been left to rot.

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