'Unprecedented': Critics Assail Kafkaesque Secret Trial in UK

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/06/05-4



Blackout slammed as an 'outrageous assault' on justice

'Unprecedented': Critics Assail Kafkaesque Secret Trial in UK
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Thursday, June 5, 2014 by Common Dreams

For the first time in the UK's modern legal history, two men could face an entirely secret criminal trial for terrorism charges, their identities, the proceedings, and the verdict concealed from the public record.

First reported Wednesday, the blackout sparked alarm among human rights campaigners, lawyers, and politicians.

“To hold trials entirely in secret is an outrageous assault on the fundamental principles of British justice," Clare Algar, executive director of UK human rights organization Reprieve, told the Telegraph.

Until Wednesday, the media was banned from reporting the trial at all. After a challenge to the gag order by UK media organizations, including the Guardian and the Daily Mail, the press won the right to cover a Wednesday hearing challenging the gag order. The court will rule on the appeal to the media blackout in the coming days.