AF v Secretary of State for the Home Department

The Court of Appeal has given judgment in the AF, AN, AM and AE v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWCA Civ 1148, 17^th October 2008, which is now the leading case on the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy. The Court of Appeal has held by a majority that Government is entitled to impose coercive control orders on individuals, amounting to virtual house arrest, without providing that person or their defence team with any allegations against them or any of the evidence relied upon by the Government. The court ruled that previous decisions of the House of Lords “did not contemplate an irreducible minimum” of disclosure to the controlled person. Recognising, however, that the judgments of the House of Lords had created uncertainty, in a rare move for the Court of Appeal, permission was granted for its judgment to be appealed to the House of Lords. Sedley LJ gave a strong dissenting judgment.

David Pannick QC and Tom Hickman are defending AF (instructed by Middleweeks solicitors). Tom de la Mare is the appointed Special Advocate for AE. Michael Fordham QC, Shaheed Fatima and Tom Richards intervened for Justice.