subject: Justice Secretary Defends The secret Justice Plans Saying Only Alternative To It Was Paying Mi [print this page] Only other alternative to secret justice proceedings was letting terror suspects pick up huge payouts the Justice Secretary said.
He also said evidence from spies could not be heard in open court because you would have terrorists in the public gallery, lining up making notes.
But human rights groups and legal campaigners accused Mr Clarke of putting ministers and bureaucrats above the law and stopping the public from learning about UKs complicity in interpretation and torture.
He confirmed yesterday that the most contentious elements of the long-awaited Justice and Security Bill have been dropped or were significantly watered down.
The plans for sensitive inquests, such as deaths of servicemen overseas, to be held in secret have already been removed along with other contentious issues he said.
The Government has to concede many compensation claims because its case often relies on evidence that cannot be disclosed without undermining the work of MI5 and MI6. The same problem makes it hard to stop terror suspects applying for British passports.
The government had to pay out almost 20million in compensation last year alone to 16 terror suspects, including former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohammed, who alleged complicity in torture.
Another 27 cases that involved either compensation claims or passport applications were still pending.
Mr Clarke said the new rules would stop ministers paying compensation in cases that had no merit.
He added that it was less than perfect, but at the moment the alternative was silent. You either have the judge hearing the evidence in closed material proceedings or, what happens at the moment is, this evidence is never given at all, he said.
Sometimes you have the agencies and the Government having to pay out millions of pounds to settle a claim which the agencies are still saying is unfounded.
He said no evidence that could currently be heard by a civil court would be kept secret. Secrecy would apply only to evidence from a spy who possibly could not reveal his sources or his technologies or what the agency knew.
