Human Rights Act

At the start of the 2000s, Liberty used the protections in the new Human Rights Act (HRA) to fight a number of landmark cases, including supporting terminally-ill Diane Pretty’s fight to die with dignity and Christine Goodwin’s successful bid to have her new gender legally recognised following discrimination and harassment at work.

A & Others

The HRA is also a crucial part of Liberty’s fight to limit the worst excesses of the 'war on terror'. For example, Liberty intervened in this long-running A & Others case which led to a crucially important decision for future government policy in 2004 when the Law Lords ruled that detaining non-British nationals without trial was unlawful. In a 2005 judgment the Law Lords also confirmed that evidence obtained through torture was not admissible in British courts.

Protest

In defence of the right to protest, Liberty took a case (Gillan & Quinton) to try and prevent the police using anti-terror stop and search powers to stifle peaceful protest. We won the case at the European Court of Human Rights early in 2010 and a few months later the notorious anti-terror Section 44 stop and search power was suspended.

Public Inquests

We are also acting for Verna Bryant to secure a public inquest into the death of her daughter. Naomi Bryant was murdered by a dangerous prisoner already serving a life sentence but released on licence with inadequate supervision. Because state agencies may have been partly responsible for Naomi’s death, Liberty is holding the government to its duty to carry out an effective and open inquiry.

Pre-Charge Detention

During 2007 and 2008, our award-winning Charge or Release campaign opposed government plans to extend detention without charge for those suspected of terrorism to 42 days. Liberty won a major campaign victory when the government dropped the proposal after it was rejected by the House of Lords in October 2008.