Court of Appeal paves way for two secret trials
Two trials can take place in secret under the provisions of the Justice and Security Act 2013, the Court of Appeal has decided.
The court has rejected challenges to the legality of closed material procedures (CMPs), in which evidence is presented without claimants or members of the public present.
The controversial procedure deprives both journalists and claimants of access to potentially crucial evidence if it is identified as “sensitive material”.
The decisions mean a complaint by a former IRA informant and a human rights case brought by five Iranian citizens will be heard behind closed doors.
The High Court ruled last July that the IRA case would be held in secret, but the claimant’s lawyers appealed the decision, stating that “issues of resettlement are often dealt with in police informant cases without any need to refer to national security”.
Lord Justice Richards said the use of procedure was a “serious departure from the fundamental principles of open justice and natural justice, but it is a departure that Parliament has authorised by the 2013 Act”.
Martin McGartland, a former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) special branch agent, was shot and left unable to work. He claims security services should have provided him with treatment for PTSD and he should have had access to disability benefits.
Mr McGartland is suing MI5, leading government lawyers to claim a need for secrecy.
The second case has been brought by Ahmad Sarkandi and four other Iranian citizens against the Foreign Office.
The claimants believe their travel was wrongfully restricted and assets unlawfully frozen in connection with EU sanctions on Iran.
The government argued that it would be risking national security by disclosing its grounds of defence.