Today, JUSTICE joins together with other leading human rights organisations, Amnesty, Liberty and Reprieve, to regret the Government’s decision to reverse cross-party changes to the Justice and Security Bill made in the House of Lords.
JUSTICE considers that the expansion of closed material procedures (or CMP) remains unfair, unnecessary and unjustified. That Ministers reject the addition of even the most basic of safeguards is disappointing. The Government’s changes to the Bill restrict the discretion of the Court and ensure that secret hearings become the default in cases where national security is raised.
Angela Patrick, Director of Human Rights Policy at JUSTICE said:
“The Government failed to make the case for expanding secret justice wholesale. Now Ministers reject even minor changes to the plan to make closed hearings the default in some cases.
Parliament must dig through the spin and reject this unjustifiable and damaging challenge to open justice and accountability.”
For further comment, please contact Angela Patrick on 020 7762 6415 (direct line) or apatrick@justice.org.uk