Criticism of inquest jury ban proposals and the use of secret evidence and ‘special’ judges

03/02/2008

Concerns have been raised over controversial proposals which could allow Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to block the summoning of a jury, parachute in her own "Special Coroner", and hold hearings in secret, for some controversial inquests, Pete Weatherby told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.

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14/10/08 UPDATE: Secret inquests plans "dropped" (BBC News)

12/8/08 UPDATE: Uproar at plan to hold inquests in secret (The Times)

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The new Counter-Terrorism Bill, published last month, includes little-noticed clauses (Section 63) introducing new powers to withhold evidence, hold secret hearings, and have special judges, for reasons of national security, to safeguard the relationship between the UK and any other country, or "otherwise in the public interest". Although included in a Counter-Terrorism Bill, the new powers are not restricted to such cases and could be applied to deaths where state accountability is the key issue, for example; police and prison custody deaths and police shootings such as the Jean Charles de Menezes killing.

Pete Weatherby told the World This Weekend programme that the proposals would be likely to breach the European Convention on Human Rights' requirement for effective, open, judicial investigations, independent of government, with maximum participation of the bereaved family, capable of holding the state to account. Furthermore, the proposals seem to drive a coach and horses through the fundamental constitutional principle of the separation of powers, whereby the judiciary do their job free of interference by the executive.

Missed it...?

The interview was broadcast shortly after 1.00pm on BBC Radio 4 on 3/2/08 - the show can be heard for the next 6 days via the "Listen Again" service.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/worldthisweekend/

Click on the button for "Listen to the latest edition" which appears on the above page. Then fast-forward 11 minutes to listen to the section of the programme featuring Pete Weatherby.

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