HOUSE OF LORDS
OPINIONS OF THE LORDS OF APPEAL FOR JUDGMENT
IN THE CAUSE
A (FC) and others (FC) (Appellants) v. Secretary of State for the
Home Department (Respondent) (2004)
A and others (Appellants) (FC) and others v. Secretary of State for
the Home Department (Respondent)
(Conjoined Appeals)
[2005] UKHL 71
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL
My Lords,
1.
May the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (“SIAC”), a
superior court of record established by statute, when hearing an appeal
under section 25 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 by
a person certified and detained under sections 21 and 23 of that Act,
receive evidence which has or may have been procured by torture
inflicted, in order to obtain evidence, by officials of a foreign state
without the complicity of the British authorities? That is the central
question which the House must answer in these appeals. The appellants,
relying on the common law of England, on the European Convention on
Human Rights and on principles of public international law, submit that
the question must be answered with an emphatic negative. The
Secretary of State agrees that this answer would be appropriate in any
case where the torture had been inflicted by or with the complicity of the
British authorities. He further states that it is not his intention to rely on,
or present to SIAC or to the Administrative Court in relation to control
orders, evidence which he knows or believes to have been obtained by a
third country by torture. This intention is, however, based on policy and
not on any acknowledged legal obligation. Like any other policy it may
be altered, by a successor in office or if circumstances change. The
admission of such evidence by SIAC is not, he submits, precluded by
law. Thus he contends for an affirmative answer to the central question
stated above. The appellants’ case is supported by written and oral
submissions made on behalf of 17 well-known bodies dedicated to the
protection of human rights, the suppression of torture and maintenance
of the rule of law.
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