Criticism of proposed secret courts

The very existence of secret courts currently being legislated for by the Government may itself be a secret, human rights organisation Reprieve has claimed.

According to Reprieve, during debates in the Lords on the Justice and Security Bill, ministers confirmed that the fact the Government has applied for a Closed Material Procedure (CMP) – a process in which the public, press and the claimant is excluded from the court – could itself remain a secret.

CMPs would already allow the Government to present secret evidence to a judge without challenge from the other side in the case, in a process which is at odds with Britain's open and adversarial tradition of justice. This new development lays open the possibility that the very occurrence itself of a CMP would not be made public.

Reprieve's Executive Director, Clare Algar said: "This is a deeply disturbing development, reminiscent of super-injunctions in its excessive secrecy. Yet instead of merely covering up footballers' indiscretions, these courts could be used to sweep serious state human rights abuses – such as torture – under the carpet. If this Bill passes, it will badly damage centuries of British legal tradition and make it far harder for the citizen to hold the state to account."