Legal challenge to Blunkett's detention powers

The law lords will hear a legal challenge to David Blunkett's decision to indefinitely detain foreign terrorism suspects.

The home secretary assumed the powers under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001.

But campaign group Human Rights Watch announced on Friday that the House of Lords judicial committee will begin hearing a challenge to the powers on Monday.

The case is an appeal against an October 2002 decision by the Court of Appeal that indefinite detention is compatible with UK and international law.

Human Rights Watch said that with 11 suspects currently in indefinite detention and with seven detained without trial for more than two years, it was vital that the judges overturned the law.

"It is impossible to overstate the importance of the decision before the House of Lords," said the organisation's Holly Cartner.

"If the law lords decide that indefinite detention is acceptable, Britain will have abandoned a cornerstone of its liberty - that everyone is equal under the law."

The case may also involve a decision on whether evidence from third countries obtained under torture may be used in indefinite detention cases.

Cartner said: "It is absolutely vital that the Lords repudiate the use of torture evidence as soon as possible.

"Allowing evidence obtained under torture undermines the global ban on torture, and sends a terrible signal to other countries that such practices are acceptable," she added.