Secret
justice 'not crucial to US ties': Elite lawyers dismiss argument for court
restrictions
Daily Mail – 29
March 2012
Ministers tried to conceal
U.S. documents disclosing his alleged
torture – but were overruled by the courts. Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil
rights group Liberty, said:
‘Special advocates know more than anyone of the dangers of turning
…'
FBI
'missed chance to uncover 9/11 plot'
The Daily Telegraph
– 28 March 2012
US
intelligence agencies used
“closed” court
hearings to suppress information about how a row between the CIA and FBI could
have prevented them from uncovering the 9/11 terrorist plot, the House of
Commons heard last night.
The use
of secret evidence in court
The Times – 28 March
2012 (Subscription required)
Sir, Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Mar 27) says new legislation is necessary to permit the
Government to rely in court on secret evidence, withheld from the other parties.
Outrage as
police seek secrecy at inquest into man whose death sparked the London
riots
Daily Mail – 27 March
2012
Shami
Chakrabarti, of civil liberties campaign group
Liberty, said: "The
least Mark Duggan’s family and Londoners deserve is a full and open hearing into
how and why he was killed."
Doubts
growing among MPs over plans for secret justice as chilling
...
Daily Mail – 13
March 2012
The
chilling reality of secret justice is exposed today
by a member of an elite group of security-cleared lawyers. Martin Chamberlain, who has acted
for clients in closed courts for nine years, condemns government plans to extend
the …
A
barrister who's worked in secret courts since 2003 describes a twisted system of
justice worthy of Kafka
Daily Mail – 13 March
2012
Most people in this country trust the courts and respect their
decisions. That is in part because, unlike in some other parts of the world, we
tend to think of our judges as incorruptible, independent and wise.
Justice
denied
Daily Mail – 13 March
2012
Today
the Mail
publishes
a chilling insight
into the workings of secret justice from one of the elite, security-cleared
Special Advocates who have first-hand experience of the way it operates.
Controversial secret justice plans 'are a charter for
cover-ups’
Daily
Mail – 12 March
2012
Controversial
plans to introduce a
system of 'secret justice' will be used to cover up allegations of torture and
war crimes, a former top Army legal officer has warned.
Inquests MUST be open says British
Legion chief who fears secret ...
Daily
Mail – 9 March
2012
The
head of the Royal British Legion said plans for secret
court and inquest hearings would 'compound the grief' of servicemen's bereaved
families.
Leading
article: Secret justice is no justice at
all
The Independent – 8
March 2012
It
may not be the Justice Secretary's intention to
undermine one of the fundamental tenets of an open legal system. But his
proposal to expand the use of secret evidence in Britain’s courts nonetheless
threatens to do so.
Clarke
defends 'secret' hearings
The Independent – 7
March 2012
Shami Chakrabarti,
director of civil rights
group Liberty, said: "Even if this policy were
limited to so-called national security cases, the 7/7 inquest
inquest would have
been shut away from the public and victims' families."
Daily Mail – 7 March
2012
Isabella Sankey, Liberty's director of policy, said: "It's no
surprise that having started with such sweeping proposals the government now
hints at concessions. But minor nips and tucks won't make this chilling policy
palatable."
Ken
Clarke unsettled by criticism of secret courts
plan
The Guardian – 7
March 2012
Isabella Sankey, Liberty's director of policy, said: "Secret courts for national security cases would have left CIA kidnap and
torture victims locked out of their own civil claims and excluded
bereaved relatives from the 7/7 inquest."
Secret
civil court hearings 'would put government above the
law'
The Guardian – 6 March
2012
In a letter to the
Guardian, the director of
Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti,
the Conservative MP, David Davis, Lady
Kennedy QC, the former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald QC and
others warn that the government's justice and security green paper violates "basic principles of the common law".
Letters: Secrets and scrutiny
The Guardian – 6 March
2012
The worst excesses of the war on
terror have been revealed by open courts and a free media. Yet the justice and
security green paper seeks to place government above the law and would undermine
such crucial scrutiny …
Plans
to extend 'secret justice' are too broad and should be amended, admits Ken
Clarke
Daily Mail – 6 March
2012
Shami Chakrabarti, director
of the civil rights group Liberty,
said: "I've always had great respect for Ken Clarke, but the fact is this policy
was never truly his own."
Ken Clarke
defends 'secret court cases' proposals
BBC News – 6 March
2012
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil
rights group Liberty, said it
would continue to fight against the proposals. "As a former
government lawyer, I know the old trick of starting with such a sweeping
proposal that any concession makes you look more reasonable."
Clarke
attempts to quell concerns over secret court
hearings
The Independent – 6
March 2012
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil
rights group Liberty, said: “Even if this policy were limited to so-called national security cases,
the 7/7 inquest would have been shut away from the public and victims'
families."
Civil
liberties fightback: Clarke gives ground on secret trials
Politics.co.uk – 6
March 2012
"The government can’t point to a single case where judges have
compromised state secrets under the current law. This isn’t nearly
enough from Ken Clarke, and the fight goes on", said Shami
Chakrabarti, director of Liberty.
Court
Out
The Times – 6 March
2012 (Subscription required)
Justice is blind, but the society it
governs should not be. Government proposals to introduce “closed” or secret
trials for terror suspects are a dangerous idea, and should be taken no further.
Secret trials ‘could
increase security risk’
The Times – 6 March
2012 (Subscription required)
Ministers have been warned by their
own officials that plans for extending “closed” or secret trials could cost
millions — and endanger rather than protect national security.
Ken Clarke: An impassioned plea against secret
justice
Daily Mail – 5 March
2012
It was thanks to the public inquest
into the 7/7 London bombings that a catalogue of official
failings came to light. As a result,
MI5 and the emergency services tightened up procedures for preventing or
reacting to future outrages.
Outrage of 7/7 families over secret
courts plan: 'Cynical scheme would let security services hush up their
errors’
Daily Mail – 5 March
2012
Families
of July 7 bombing victims and
soldiers killed by 'friendly fire' have condemned the Government's secret
justice plans as a ‘dictator’s charter’. They said proposals to hold inquests
and civil cases behind closed doors could rob families of the right to see justice done.
Cameron
defies the critics over plans to bring in secret
courts
Daily Mail – 3 March
2012
Shami Chakrabarti,
director of the civil liberties group Liberty, said: ‘The
Secret Justice Green Paper is not about criminal trials for terror suspects but
contains sweeping proposals to shut out war widows, disaster victims and
everyone else..."
Secret courts condemned – by the very lawyers who
would have to run them
Daily Mail – 2 march 2012
An
elite group of lawyers who would oversee a
highly controversial new system of
‘secret justice’ is warning it would leave Britain
with more draconian rules than any other country in the world.
From friendly fire to 7/7 – what we would NEVER have
found out under secret
justice
Daily Mail – 2 march 2012
Failings that led to preventable military deaths would
never have been exposed without public inquests.
Even
the lawyers oppose secret courts!
Daily Mail – 2 march 2012
This week, the Mail has led an
impressive
coalition of peers, MPs and civil liberties groups campaigning
against chilling plans to hold some civil court compensation cases, and inquests
into police killings, terrorist attacks and military deaths in secret.
Government
faces revolt over "secret justice"
expansion
Daily Telegraph – 1 march 2012
The Government is
facing widespread revolt over plans
to expand “secret justice” laws to ensure controversial court cases and inquests
can be held behind closed doors.
Blow to plans for
‘secret trials’
The Times – 1 March
2012 (Subscription required)
Parties
unite against secret injustice: Horrified MPs and peers condemn Clarke’s plan
for court cases behind closed doors
Daily Mail – 1 march 2012
Ministers are
facing a deepening cross-party revolt
over plans for a massive extension of 'secret justice' being likened to regimes
in despotic states such as Iran and North Korea.
David
Davis: You might expect it from North Korea. NOT
Britain
Daily Mail –
1 march 2012A regime of secret
courts and
hidden judgments. Lawyers forbidden from seeing their clients. Defendants not
even told the evidence against them, let alone allowed to challenge it.