Indefinite Preventive Detention: An Anglo-American Legacy of the State of Exception

Syed Sami Raza & Ghazala Rafi

Abstract:
It is now widely known that anti-terrorism laws, and especially the provision for
indefinite preventive detention, have become part of western liberal criminal
justice system. These laws create an anti-terrorism legal regime, which derogates
from the principle of rule of law. However, there are scholars, for instance Charles
Kennedy, who believe that anti-terrorism legal regimes have been deployed more
in developing countries, for instance Pakistan, than in the West. In this article, we
set out in brief a genealogical description of the Western anti-terrorism legal
regime and the provision for indefinite preventive detention. Moreover, we
demonstrate that the anti-terrorism legal regime in Pakistan and the provision for
preventive detention has its origins in the British colonial security regime.

Keywords: Indefinite, Preventive, Detention, Anglo-American, Legacy, Exception