Terror suspects win legal battle on use of 'secret evidence'

Wednesday, 10 June 2009 09:36

Three terror suspects currently under control orders have won a major victory against the government’s use of secret evidence to maintain their control orders.

The men, whose control orders remain in place, will have their cases returned to a lower court with the government forced to either disclose further information on why control orders have been imposed, or disband the orders themselves.

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, (pictured) ruled that "A trial procedure can never be considered fair if a party to it is kept in ignorance of the case against him."

Lord Hope of Craighead added that the courts must "insist that the person affected be told what is alleged against him".

The use of secret evidence to incarcerate suspects was earlier criticised in the cases of the 12 individuals who were detained in Yorkshire over an alleged ‘Easter bomb plot’, before being released without charge.

The ruling by the Law Lords will further bolster the efforts of those that support an independent review into 'the use of evidence that is not ever heard by the defendant or their lawyer but which is used to justify indefinite detention, severe bail conditions or control orders.'

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