Getting rid of justice
01 May 1994
Battle was joined between the liberals and the hardliners on the issue of asylum-seekers in the Court of Appeal in April as, by a two-to-one majority, the attempt by judge Stephen Sedley to bring some natural justice into asylum screening procedures was thwarted. The majority held that the procedures were already fair and reversed the landmark judgment (see Statewatch vol 4, no 2), in which Sedley had ordered the Home Secretary to disclose the material it relied on in fast-track, "manifestly unfounded" cases. But Lord Justice Steyn agreed with Sedley and said that the procedure adopted, which did not include even-handed disclosure by the Home Office, "rendered ineffective fundamental rights of asylum seekers".
R v Home Secretary ex p Abdi, Independent 21.4.94.