BRITAIN: British human rights activists were unanimous in their reaction to yesterday's Law Lords ruling against detention without trial of terror suspects, saying they must be released immediately or charged.
The Law Lords ruled against the detention of nine Muslim men, some of whom have been held without charge for three years at a top security jail dubbed "Britain's Guantanamo" by campaigners.
Ms Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said the government had to act "without delay" after the Law Lords ruled that indefinite detention without trial contravened human rights laws.
And solicitor Ms Gareth Peirce, who represents eight of the detainees, said the government risked a "constitutional crisis" if it chose to ignore the Law Lords' decision.
She also claimed that detention had driven four of the detainees to "madness" and that a further four had had their mental health seriously affected.
Ms Chakrabarti said: "Internment has been a festering sore on our nation's conscience for nearly three years.
"By acting as judge, jury and jailer the government have flouted the very values it claims to defend. It must now act and charge or release all those currently held without delay."
She added: "To flout such a clear ruling from the House of Lords would be something approaching a constitutional crisis, but I do not believe that will happen.
"I just do not believe that they [ the government] would be so foolish as to flout the clear and unequivocal advice of the highest court in the land."
Ms Peirce said the detainees would look to the European Court of Human Rights if there was no swift response to the Law Lords' ruling. "The government has to take steps to withdraw the legislation and release the detainees," she said. "The ball is now firmly in their court. We would expect the government to respond immediately. "
Ms Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, welcomed the ruling.
"Morally, legally, a very clear message has been sent to the government," she said. We look now to the new Home Secretary to respond to ensure that the human rights of these people are upheld. The ball is firmly in the Government's court."
Mr Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "This ruling is the final nail in the coffin of this draconian piece of legislation under which the lives of 17 innocent people and their families have been mercilessly destroyed."