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

Special Immigration Appeals CommissionAnonymity Order

Claim number: SN/02/2024

In the Special Immigration Appeals Commission

9 April 2024

Between:

CN

-v-

Secretary of State for the Home Department

Anonymity Order

ON the Applicant’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’)

AND ON the explanatory note (as defined at paragraph 28(v) of the Commission’s Practice Note on Anonymity Orders and Related Measures (‘the Practice Note’)) having been served on 22 March 2024 by email on the Legal Representatives (as defined in the Practice Note)

AND ON considering the documents lodged in accordance with paragraph 28 of the Practice Note (legal submissions, the witness statement of Marcela Navarrete of 21 March 2024  and the explanatory 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 Applicant be granted anonymity in relation to the conduct of proceedings in the Commission, and be known in these proceedings as CN.
  1. Nothing may be published which, directly, or indirectly, identifies her as an applicant in these proceedings before the Commission.
  1. There be liberty to apply on 48 hours’ written notice to the Commission, to the Applicant, to the Secretary of State and to the Legal Representatives (as defined in the Practice Note).
  1. This order continues until the OPEN judgment has been handed down in this appeal, or further order in the meantime, unless the Applicant indicates to the Commission, as soon as the OPEN judgment is circulated in draft, that she 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 whereupon this order will continue for the duration of the determination of that application.

REASONS

  1. CN was refused naturalisation as a British citizen by the Respondent on 2 February 2024, on the grounds that she did not meet the good character requirement because of alleged involvement with the PKK (the Kurdish Workers Party). CN has applied to the Commission for a review of the decision. CN has family members residing in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (‘TRNC’). CN and family members in the UK travel to and from the TRNC.
  1. The case in support of this application includes that there is a real risk to CN and or members of her family, and potential witnesses, of serious harm in the TRNC if her identity is disclosed in these proceedings.
  1. If the Commission cannot decide at this stage whether CN’s case in support of this application is well-founded, it must assume that it is, or might be, in the light of the risks which she describes. Those risks justify the encroachment into the principle of open justice which this order represents, and its interference with the Article 10 rights of the media and the public.

By the Commission

Dated this 9th day of April 2024