On 17 January 2012 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) handed down its judgment in Othman (Abu Qatada) v UK.  It was on appeal from the House of Lords cases RB and U (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for the Home Department v OO (Jordan) which […]

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights was asked to consider whether the hearsay provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 are compatible with the right to confront adverse witnesses under article 6(3)(d) of the Convention. The significance of the issue was underlined by the further judgment of the UK Supreme Court in […]

Al Rawi and Deghayes are the same case – called Al Rawi in the High Court and Court of Appeal, but Deghayes in the Supreme Court. Tariq is a separate case from Deghayes but was heard by the Supreme Court at the same time due to the overlap in issues. Al Rawi and Deghayes concerned […]

Al Jedda involved the indefinite detention of a dual British/Iraqi citizen in a Basra facility run by British forces. In 2007, the House of Lords ruled unanimously that the detention was lawful because the UK government had been authorised by UN Security Council resolution 1546. JUSTICE had intervened in the case before the House of […]

Cart v Upper Tribunal and Eba v Advocate General were both heard in the Supreme Court on 14 March 2011. At issue was the amenability of statutory tribunals designated superior courts of record to judicial review. On 22 June the Supreme Court ruled that decisions of the Upper Tribunal are not immune from judicial review by […]

The case concerned the definition of ‘miscarriage of justice’ for the purposes of statutory compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. On 11 May 2011 by a majority of 5-4, the UK Supreme Court rejected the government’s arguments that only people who could prove their innocence would be entitled to compensation for […]

This case was a devolution appeal from Scotland to the Supreme Court and concerned fair trial rights in Scotland. At issue was whether a suspect detained by the police has the right to speak with and be represented by a lawyer in the police station – a right long held in England, Wales and Northern […]