Anti-terror measures eroding rights, watchdog group says
Susanna Loof
Associated Press
Apr. 17, 2003 12:00 AM

VIENNA - Anti-terrorism measures introduced since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are severely curtailing human rights and civil liberties in much of the world, a prominent watchdog group said Wednesday.

The measures threaten freedoms because they are too broad, too vague and applied too arbitrarily, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights contended in its report.

"We are accomplishing the goal that (terrorists) are allegedly pursuing," said Aaron Rhodes, director of the Vienna-based federation.

Limited breaches of human rights would be expected in an emergency situation, such as the period immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., Rhodes said. But governments in the post-Sept. 11 era have failed to "minimize the erosion of rights," he added.

"Terrorist suspects have rights also," Rhodes said.

The group studied measures in 55 countries.