On Liberty

by Shami Chakrabarti

The Justice and Security Act replaces fair and even-handed civil trials in which a government, military, ‘spook’ or police party to litigation participates under the same rules as their opponent, with the ‘closed material procedures’ of the Special Immigration Commission that were used to perfume internment in Belmarsh and then punishment without charge under control orders and their replacement, TPIMs. Under this procedure, the ordinary person, usually someone making a civil claim in relation to some kind of alleged bad behaviour by the state, finds herself shut out of large parts of the proceedings, sometimes for several days of argument, while the lawyers on the other side get to present evidence and argument in secret to the presiding judge. Hardly equality before the law. Instead it’s a bit like a football match where one side is repeatedly ordered off the field so that the other team can be alone with the referee on an empty pitch with an open goal.