Indeed, and I pointed out earlier the complicity of the intelligence services. Such arguments are mounting up, and they explain why opponents are lining up to denounce the Government’s proposals for closed material procedures. The special advocates have called them “fundamentally unfair”, and the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, has warned that secret courts will
“damage public confidence in our judiciary”
and are
“not fair because they are not balanced”.
The Law Society and the Bar Council have warned:
“Secret trials and non-disclosure of evidence are potential characteristics of repressive regimes and undemocratic societies.”
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published expert legal advice finding that secret courts are
“incompatible with the common law right to a fair trial”
and
“incompatible with article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights”.
6.45 pm