Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

Public interest immunity

01 May 1994

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

"The courts should be less awestruck by the mantra of national security and readier to scrutinise the legitimacy and weight of these claims (on public interest immunity)" said Lord Justice Simon Brown at a civil service lawyers' conference on 25 March. On 28 March, the House of Lords rejected an attempt to force the disclosure of MI5 and MI6 documents to help ex-foreign office civil servant Andrew Balfour in his unfair dismissal claim. Pii certificates were signed by Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and ex-Home Secretary Kenneth Baker to prevent Balfour having access to the documents. Hurd said in an affidavit that disclosure would put at risk the effective discharge by the security and intelligence services of current and future operations. Balfour claims that he was ordered to become friendly with a man in Dubai, but was then dismissed in 1990 for accepting £5,000 from the man for issuing a visa. He was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, questioned by Special Branch and accused of assisting a terrorist (the man he had been told to get friendly with). He is suing the Foreign Office and the Met police for unlawful arrest following his PTA detention, and may go to the European Court of Human Rights. Meanwhile, the "terrorist" friend Ansari was granted a new visa to enter UK, and still comes here freely.

Guardian 11.4.94, Independent on Sunday 10.4.94.

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

Menwith Hill Station

Next article 

Production order illegal

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy