Al Rawi and others v The Security Service and others [2009] EWHC 2959 (QB)
Queen’s Bench Division, 18 November 2009, Silber J
The “closed material” procedure involving special advocates may be adopted in a civil claim for damages.
Timothy Otty QC, Richard Hermer QC and Tom Hickman (instructed by Birnberg Peirce &Co) for the first, second and fourth claimants. Michael Fordham QC and Naina Patel (i) (instructed by Birnberg Peirce & Co) for the third and fifth claimants (ii) (instructed by Leigh Day& Co) for the sixth claimant and (iii) (instructed by Christian Khan) for the seventh claimant.
Jonathan Crow QC, Karen Steyn, Daniel Beard and Andrew O’Connor (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the defendants. Liberty and Justice, the interveners, made joint written submissions prepared by Nigel Pleming QC, Eric Metcalfe and Corinna Ferguson.
The seven claimants were all former detainees who had been held by various foreign states, including by the United States using its facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and to have thereby suffered ill-treatment.
The defendants were organs of the state which were alleged to have caused
