A. and Others v. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) (defendant) was a party to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also called the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In November 2001, after recent international terrorist attacks in the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) declared a state of public emergency based on the threat of international terrorism. Although this threat stemmed from both UK nationals and foreign nationals, the UK lodged a statement that it was derogating, i.e., suspending, the ECHR’s liberty rights for only foreign nationals suspected of international terrorism. The UK then enacted the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (the Anti-Terrorism Act), which allowed the government to indefinitely detain foreign nationals suspected of international terrorism without charges or trial. Several nonnationals who were detained under the Anti-Terrorism Act (the detainees) (plaintiffs) sued in the UK’s domestic courts alleging that the UK had violated the ECHR by unnecessarily depriving only nonnationals of their fundamental right to liberty. The House of Lords found that a public emergency existed but that the Anti-Terrorism Act was discriminatory and did not satisfy the strict-necessity test for derogating ECHR rights. Accordingly, the House of Lords ruled that the UK had violated the ECHR. The detainees filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights seeking to confirm the violation.