CEDH · PRESS;FORTHCOMINGJUDGMENTS;ENG — 13 février 2009

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .s66E9FC38 { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#000000 } .s83BE5C30 { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   110 13.2.2009   Press release issued by the Registrar   FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT   19 February 2009   The European Court of Human Rights will deliver its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of A.   and Others v. the United Kingdom (application no. 3455/05) in a public hearing on Thursday 19   February 2009 at 10.30 a.m. (local time) in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg.   The press release and the text of the judgment will be available after the hearing on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     A. and Others v. the United Kingdom The applicants are 11 individuals, six are of Algerian nationality; four are, respectively, of French, Jordanian, Moroccan and Tunisian nationality; and, one, born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, is stateless.   The case concerns the applicants’ complaint that they were detained in high security conditions under a statutory scheme which permitted the indefinite detention of non-nationals certified by the Secretary of State as suspected of involvement in terrorism.   Following the al’Qaeda attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States of America, the British Government considered that the United Kingdom was a particular target for terrorist attacks, such as to give rise to a “public emergency threatening the life of the nation” within the meaning of Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights (derogation in time of emergency). The Government believed that the threat came principally from a number of foreign nationals present in the United Kingdom, who were providing a support network for extremist Islamist terrorist operations linked to al’Qaeda. These individuals could not be deported because there was a risk that each would be ill-treated in his country of origin in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. The Government considered that it was necessary to create an extended power permitting the detention of foreign nationals, where the Secretary of State reasonably believed that the person’s presence in the United Kingdom was a risk to national security and reasonably suspected that the person was an “international terrorist”. Since the Government considered that this detention scheme might not be consistent with Article 5(1) of the Convention (right to liberty), on 11 November 2001 they issued a notice of derogation under Article 15 of the Convention to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The notice set out the provisions of Part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (“the 2001 Act”), including the power to detain foreign nationals certified as “suspected international terrorists” who could not be removed from the United Kingdom.   Part 4 of the 2001 Act came into force on 4 December 2001 and was repealed in March 2005. During the lifetime of the legislation 16 individuals, including the 11 applicants, were certified and detained. The first six applicants were detained on 19 December 2001 and the others were detained on various dates up until October 2003. They were initially detained at Belmarsh Prison in London. The Moroccan and French applicants were released as they elected to leave the United Kingdom in December 2001 and March 2002, respectively. Three of the applicants, following a deterioration in their mental health (including a suicide attempt), were transferred to Broadmoor Secure Mental Hospital. Another applicant was released on bail in April 2004, under conditions equal to house arrest, because of serious concerns over his mental health.   Each applicant appealed to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) against the Secretary of State’s decision to certify him under the 2001 Act. In determining whether the Secretary of State had had reasonable grounds for suspecting that each applicant was an “international terrorist” whose presence in the United Kingdom gave rise to a risk to national security, SIAC used a procedure which enabled it to consider both evidence which could be made public (“open material”) and sensitive evidence which could not be disclosed for reasons of national security (“closed material”). The detainee and his legal representatives were given the open material and could comment on it in writing and at a hearing. The closed material was not disclosed to the detainee or his lawyers but was disclosed to a “special advocate”, appointed on behalf of each detainee by the Solicitor General. In addition to the open hearings, SIAC held closed hearings to examine the secret evidence, where the special advocate could make submissions on behalf of the detainee as regards procedural matters, such as the need for further disclosure, and as to the substance and reliability of the closed material. However, once the special advocate had seen the closed material he could not have any contact with the detainee or his lawyers, except with the leave of the court. SIAC upheld the Secretary of State’s decision to certify each of the applicants.   The applicants also brought proceedings in which they challenged the fundamental legality of the November 2001 derogation. These proceedings were eventually determined by the House of Lords on 16 December 2004. It held that there was an emergency threatening the life of the nation but that the detention scheme did not rationally address the threat to security and was therefore disproportionate. The House of Lords found, in particular, that there was evidence that United Kingdom nationals were also involved in terrorist networks linked to al’Qaeda and that the detention scheme under Part 4 of the 2001 Act discriminated unjustifiably against foreign nationals. The House of Lords therefore made a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act and quashed the derogation order.   Part 4 of the 2001 Act remained in force, however, until it was repealed by Parliament in March 2005. As soon as the applicants still in detention were released, they were made subject to control orders under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. Control orders impose various restrictions on those reasonably suspected of involvement in terrorism, regardless of nationality.   In August 2005, following negotiations commenced towards the end of 2003 to seek from the Algerian and Jordanian Governments assurances that the applicants would not be ill-treated if returned, the Government served Notices of Intention to Deport on the six Algerian applicants and Jordanian applicant. These applicants were taken into immigration custody pending removal to Algeria and Jordan. In April 2008 the Court of Appeal ruled that the Jordanian applicant could not lawfully be extradited to Jordan, because it was likely that evidence obtained by torture could be used against him there at trial. The case is currently pending before the House of Lords. The applicants complain before the Court that their indefinite detention in high security conditions amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment. They also allege that the detention scheme was unlawful and discriminatory in that the derogation was unjustified and disproportionate. Furthermore, although their detention was declared to be in breach of domestic law, they were unable to bring any proceedings in the United Kingdom to claim compensation or bring about their release. Lastly, the applicants complain that during their appeals against certification before SIAC they had only limited knowledge of the case against them and a limited possibility to challenge it. The applicants rely on Articles 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security), 6 (right to a fair trial), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination).   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 21   January 2005. The Chamber to which the case was assigned decided to relinquish jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber [1] on 11   September 2007. The Grand Chamber held a public hearing in the case on 21   May 2008.     ***   Press contacts Stefano Piedimonte (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 28 30) Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70) Céline Menu-Lange (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. [1] Where a case pending before a Chamber raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or the protocols thereto, or where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court, the Chamber may, at any time before it has rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber, unless one of the parties to the case objects.