Civil liberties

Keeping our streets safer May 2011
Isabel Parrott reports on legal and defendant support work surrounding the anti-cuts movement and student protests

A new zeitgeist on rights May 2009
The Convention on Modern Liberty inspired a huge surge of energy around civil liberties, says Stuart Weir. Human rights campaigners could be on the verge of a historic breakthrough

Our job as citizens October 2008
Strengthening human rights laws, protecting civil liberties and combating the database state are all interlinked, says Stuart Weir

The left’s unlikely ally August 2008
David Davis's by-election campaign against 42-day detention tapped into a widespread feeling that our traditional liberties are under threat from a much distrusted political class, says David Beetham. But don't hold your breath for a more liberal Conservative administration

What price security? November 2007
Brig Oubridge, Chair of the Big Green Gathering, reports on how new anti-terror laws may herald the end of outdoor festivals in the UK

G-Had In the UK August 2006
The Sun dubs him the ‘suicide bomb rapper’, and two MPs have called for his arrest. But with the government and mainstream media limiting debate on the causes of terrorism, Aki Nawaz of Fun-Da-Mental tells Angela Saini he’s prepared to risk his liberty to challenge received wisdoms

A law unto themselves? October 2005
The police shoot-to-kill policy that claimed the life of Jean Charles de Menezes was introduced without any democratic debate. Oscar Reyes asks where that leaves the notions of community policing and police accountability

Attacking the outside agitators September 2005
Throughout the 1960s, volunteers who joined the struggle for African-American civil rights in the US southland were denounced as 'outside agitators.' The white establishment accused them of stirring up the local blacks, who of course would otherwise have remained content with their lot.

In the eye of the storm August 2005
Britain has changed since the outrages of 7 July. The bombs had hardly gone off in London when Tony Blair declared them to be the work of Islamic terrorists.

Judge gives green light to police containment tactics April 2005
Alex Nunns reports on the Mayday case in which he appeared as a witness for the prosecution

Institutionalised spite April 2005
Introduced by Labour largely to protect working class families on inner-city estates from the menace of antisocial behaviour, how could you not applaud Asbos? Because, writes Chris Quayle, they don't work, have absolutely no regard for the niceties of normal legal process, and are an excuse for completely ignoring the causes of antisocial behaviour in the first place.

The War on Terror at home: from internment to control orders March 2005
Britain's Guantanamo has gone into crisis. Last year the government came under increasing criticism for its internment policy, which had kept many foreign nationals incarcerated without charge for three years. Their treatment was rightly denounced as psychological torture by lawyers and doctors.

Access all areas February 2005
Ever wanted to know who was responsible for closing your local swimming pool? Or about decisions to repatriate asylum seekers? Or how much of your cash goes to arms dealers? Well, the Freedom of Information Act could help you do so. Katherine Haywood offers advice on how to use it

Defending the Right to Protest December 2003
In December 1999 then home secretary Jack Straw unveiled to the House of Commons his plans to combat terrorism. The perceived threat came not from Islamic fundamentalists but from IRA splinter groups and animal rights activists.

Was High Court DSEi ruling aimed at stifling Bush protests? December 2003
Activists are increasingly worried that a High Court ruling made in October has given police the green light to use anti-terrorism laws to clamp down on people's right to peaceful protest.

Police breached human rights of peace protesters July 2003
Anti-war demonstrators who protested at RAF Fairford during the Iraq conflict suffered fundamental breaches in their human rights according to a new report by Liberty.