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Key elements of a major terrorism trial can be held in secret for the first time, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
The case is being brought by the Crown against terror suspects Erol Incedal and Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, who until now had been identified only as AB and CD.
Media organisations had contested the “unprecedented” decision by Mr Justice Nicol at the Old Bailey last month to accept the government’s application to have the trial heard entirely in secret, with a “permanent prohibition on reporting what takes place during the trial and their identities.”
However, Lord Justice Gross said: “This case is exceptional.
“We are persuaded on the evidence before us that there is a significant risk — at the very least a serious possibility — that the administration of justice would be frustrated were the trial to be conducted in open court; for what appears to be good reason on the material we have seen the Crown might be deterred from continuing with the prosecution.”
And he declared: “In our judgment, as a matter of necessity, the core of the trial must be heard in camera.”
But the court was not persuaded that anonymity for the defendants was warranted or that the entire trial should be secret.
While the core of the trial will be in private, the swearing-in of the jury, the reading of the charges to the jury, part of the prosecution opening, the verdict and — if applicable — any sentencing will be in public.
Civil rights campaign Liberty policy director Isabella Sankey said: “The judges are clear that open justice is a priceless foundation of our system and faced with a blacked-out trial we now have a few vital chinks of light.
“But their wholesale deference to vague and secret ministerial ‘national security’ claims is worrying. Shutting the door on the core of a criminal trial is a dangerous departure from our democratic tradition.”
The court indicated that some journalists may be allowed to witness the full trial subject to confidentiality agreements and the secure storage of their notes.