Closed Evidence, Reasonable Suspicion and Torture: A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Author | Déirdre M. Dwyer |
| DOI | 10.1350/ijep.9.2.126.64812 |
| Published date | 01 March 2005 |
| Date | 01 March 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Case Note |
12 6 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF
CASE NOTE
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF
Closed evidence, reasonable suspicion
and torture:
A and Others
v
Secretary of
State for the Home Department
By Déirdre M. Dwyer
Pembroke College, Oxford
Facts of the case
In A and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department,1 the Court of
Appeal considered an appeal from 10 persons against the decision of the
Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)2 to uphold the Home
Secretary’s certification of the appellants as suspected international terrorists under
s. 21 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA). The court considered
three major and several minor points of appeal on the question of whether the Home
Secretary had correctly exercised his statutory powers. The three major points were
that:
1. SIAC employed an insufficient standard of scrutiny when reviewing the
certification of the appellants.
2. Certification extended to suspected membership of organisations beyond
those intended by Parliament.
3. The Home Secretary should not have considered evidence unless it was
shown not to have been obtained under torture.
ATCSA, Part 4 and appeals to SIAC
The ATCSA was passed following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA by the
international terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Section 21 of ATCSA provides the Home
1 [2004] EWCA Civ 1123, Pill, Laws, Neuberger LJJ.
2 SC/1/6/7/9/10 2002, 29 October 2003.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF (2005) 9 E&P 126–131
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