Judges told they have no power to allow secret evidence in Guantanamo case
March 9, 2010 @ 12:37 pm
Frances Gibb
London Times
March 9, 2010
Three of the country’s top judges were told yesterday that they had no power to allow ministers to use secret evidence in fighting a damages claim by six former Guantanamo Bay detainees over alleged ill-treatment.
Dinah Rose QC, counsel for five of the six men, said that the procedure for using secret confidential evidence was never designed for civil damages claims such as this one.
To use the “closed material procedure”, as it is called, with specially vetted advocates allowed to see the evidence, had “serious constitutional implications”, she said.
It was a “fundamental change” which could be made only by Parliament – “and by legislation in the clearest possible terms given its serious constitutional implications”.
