A panel of nine law lords was told yesterday that the locking up of suspected foreign terrorists indefinitely without trial is "unacceptable" in a democracy.

Ben Emmerson, QC, said that the detention of nine men held under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was at odds with the British values of "liberty and equality".

The men are seeking to overturn a Court of Appeal decision which backed the home secretary’s powers to detain them.