Judges grant secret court hearings

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said five applications had been made by the Government for evidence to be heard in secret courts over the past year

Secret court hearings were granted by judges to the Government in at least three of its five attempts to secure them during the first year of controversial new laws being in place.

Ministers' applications for closed material proceedings (CMP) - allowing evidence to be heard in private - were accepted in cases involving an IRA mole suing MI5, terror suspects alleging British complicity in their torture in Somaliland, and Iranian shipping officials who were listed as having their assets frozen due to suspected involvement in nuclear proliferation activity.

Under the Justice and Security Act 2013, powers were granted for judges to grant secret hearings for evidence that may jeopardise national security if heard in public.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced that between June 25 2013, when the powers came into force, and June 24 this year, ministers made five applications for CMP.

In the same period, a decision whether to grant one of the applications was made in secret, while another application - involving British terror suspects Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed and a man known only as CF - was granted publicly.

Since June 24, judges have granted permission for secret hearings in two of the other cases.

On July 8, Home Secretary Theresa May won a top judge's permission to use secret court hearings to defend a damages claim brought by IRA mole Martin McGartland.

Mr McGartland is suing MI5 for breach of contract and negligence in his aftercare following a shooting by the IRA which left him unable to work.

A former agent of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch, Mr McGartland claims the security services failed to provide care for post-traumatic stress disorder and access to disability benefits.

Mr Justice Mitting said "sensitive material" relating to protection and the training of security service "handlers" arose in the case and that secret hearings could be used in the interests of national security.

On July 11, court documents show the Government was granted secret hearings in a case involving members of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, who are seeking damages from the Foreign Office for loss of earnings after being included on a frozen assets list for their alleged involvement in "proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities and the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems".

Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk