C7 -v- The Secretary of State for the Home Department (anonymity order)

Anonymity Order

Case No. SC/171/2020

In the Special Immigration Appeals Commission

9 July 2020

 

Between:
C7
-v-
The Secretary of State for the Home Department


On the Appellant’s application for an anonymity order pursuant to rule 39(5)(h) of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure) Rules 2003 and for an order restraining publication pursuant to section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 (‘the application’)
On the Legal Representatives’ having been notified of the application by email on 19 June 2020 On considering the documents (application notice, statement of truth of Fahad Ansari of 19 June 2020, legal submissions, draft order, and the explanatory note describing what the case is about) (‘the documents’) lodged in accordance with paragraph 28 of the Commission’s Practice Note on Anonymity Orders and Related Measures (the Practice Note’)
And on the Appellant undertaking to keep the Commission and the Secretary of State informed of any matter which may affect the continued need for this order It is ordered that
1.The Appellant be granted anonymity in relation to the conduct of proceedings in the Commission and be known in these proceedings as C7.
2.Nothing may be published which, directly, or indirectly, identifies him as an appellant in these proceedings before the Commission.
3.There be liberty to apply on 48 hours’ written notice to the Commission, to the Appellant, to the Secretary of State and to the Legal Representatives (as defined in the Practice Note).
4.This order continues until the OPEN judgment has been handed down in this appeal, or further order in the meantime, unless the Appellant indicates to the Commission, as soon as the OPEN judgment is circulated in draft, that he intends to apply for it to continue after the OPEN judgment is handed down, and applies to the Commission, before that judgment is handed down, for directions for the determination of any such  application.
Reasons
1.The Appellant was born in Bangladesh and became a British citizen at birth. He challenges a notice dated 30 March 2020 informing him of the Secretary of State’s intention to deprive him of his British nationality. The Secretary of State’s assessment was that the Appellant was a British/Bangladeshi dual national who had travelled to Syria, was aligned with ISIL, and was a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom.
2. The Appellant is abroad. He fears that if he were detained there, he would suffer ill treatment breaching article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the ECHR’). The Secretary of State, he says, has accepted that there is a risk of such ill treatment in detention in the country in which the Appellant is living.
3. His wife and children live with him. He contends that if he were identified, there is a risk that they would be, too, which would breach their rights protected by article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the ECHR’) and prejudice best interests of the children.
4. The Commission is not in a position to decide, on the basis of the documents which support the application, whether or not the Appellant’s fears are well-founded. It must assume, at this stage, that they are.
5. The risk that the Appellant’s fears will turn out to be well-founded outweighs the article 10 rights of the public and the media, and justifies the encroachment into the principle of open justice which this Order represents.