Deportation of Suspected Terrorists with ‘Real Risk’ of Torture: The House of Lords Decision in Abu Qatada

Abstract

This note discusses the House of Lords' decision in RB (Algeria) (FC) and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department; OO (Jordan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department that the real risk of third-party foreign torture evidence does not meet the required standard of unfairness so as to prevent the deportation of suspected terrorists under Article 6 ECHR. It considers three key issues that were raised by this case: Parliament has deliberately restricted the right of appeal from SIAC to the Court of Appeal on questions of fact; the procedure of using closed material by SIAC in the assessment of safety on return is unequivocally permitted by statute; and the conclusions by SIAC that diplomatic assurances contained in Memoranda of Understanding do not give rise to points of law and, therefore, are beyond review by the appellate courts.