News broke today that one of the ten men served with control orders had been remanded in custody after breaching the terms of his order.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said:

“The control order regime is descending still further into cruel and futile farce. Confused individuals who have never been charged with a recognisable criminal offence are running around on plastic tags. They fear imprisonment at any moment for breaches of the broadest and vaguest of restrictions- all decided, and then variable, by a politician."

Note to Editors
Control Orders were brought in by the Government under the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act. So far ten control orders have been served on people suspected of involvement in terrorism. A control order severely restricts who a person can meet, where they can go and all cases so far have involved electronic tagging. They can potentially last indefinitely. The person does not have to be accused of any crime and does not have to be told why he is under suspicion.

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