66 HASSAN v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT – SEPARATE OPINION the grounds of permitted deprivation of liberty of Article 5 § 1 should be “accommodated, as far as possible”, with the taking of prisoners of war and the detention of civilians who pose a risk to security under the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions (see paragraph 104). This method of “accommodation” of Convention rights is a novelty in the Court’s case-law. Its scope is ambiguous and its content wholly uncertain, at least as a legitimate method of interpretation of a legal text. Whatever this purported method entails, it bears reiterating that there is simply no available room to “accommodate” the powers of internment under international humanitarian law within, inherently or alongside Article 5 § 1 (see paragraph 16 above). Furthermore, as the disapplication option is off the table, since no derogation from the Convention has occurred, this novel method of accommodation cannot be implemented in such a manner as to have effectively the same legal effects as disapplication. However, by concluding, as the majority does, that the grounds of permitted deprivation of liberty under Article 5 § 1 should be “accommodated, as far as possible”, with the taking of prisoners of war and the detention of civilians who pose a risk to security under the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, the majority, in essence, does nothing else on the facts of this case. It effectively disapplies or displaces the fundamental safeguards underlying the exhaustive and narrowly interpreted grounds for permissible detention under the Convention by judicially creating a new, unwritten ground for a deprivation of liberty and, hence, incorporating norms from another and distinct regime of international law, in direct conflict with the Convention provision. Whatever accommodation means, it cannot mean this! VII. 19. In conclusion, on the facts of this case, the powers of internment under the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, relied on by the Government as a permitted ground for the capture and detention of Tarek Hassan, are in direct conflict with Article 5 § 1 of the Convention. The Court does not have any legitimate tools at its disposal, as a court of law, to remedy this clash of norms. It must therefore give priority to the Convention, as its role is limited under Article 19 to “[ensuring] the observance of the engagements undertaken by the High Contracting Parties in the Convention and the Protocols thereto”. By attempting to reconcile the irreconcilable, the majority’s finding today does not, with respect, reflect an accurate understanding of the scope and substance of the fundamental right to liberty under the Convention, as reflected in its purpose and its historical origins in the atrocities of the international armed conflicts of the Second World War.

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents