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27 November 2014 / Thomas Garner
Issue: 7632 / Categories: Features , Public , Immigration & asylum
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Behind closed doors?

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Thomas Garner examines the possibility of closed material procedures in extradition proceedings

On 5 November 2014 the Supreme Court gave judgment in the case of VB and others v The Government of Rwanda and others [2014] UKSC 59, [2014] All ER (D) 41 (Nov). Rwanda seeks the extradition of several individuals accused of genocide and related crimes. The judgment concerns closed material procedures in extradition hearings and touches upon the interplay between asylum and extradition.

The appellants argued that there are substantial grounds for believing that, there is a real risk that they will suffer a flagrantly unfair trial in Rwanda. As part of their case they wished to call a number of witnesses who are unwilling to give evidence if their evidence and identity was disclosed to the Government of Rwanda (GoR). Some witnesses said that they would only disclose their evidence to the judge.

The appellants invited the extradition judge to devise a “reverse closed material procedure” whereby the GoR would be prevented from seeing certain evidence. It was suggested

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