U.K. Court Rules Against Deportation of Foreign Nationals Posing Threat to National Security (January 23, 2015) [1]
On January 23, 2015, the England and Wales Court of Appeal issued a judgment [3] in BB, PP, U and Others v. Secretary of State for the Home Department upholding the appeals of Algerian nationals against deportation after the Special Immigration and Appeals Commission (SIAC) found them to be a threat to U.K. national security. The individuals had, for years, resisted deportation through protracted litigation. On several occasions, SIAC dismissed their appeals after receiving assurances from the Algerian government that the appellants’ human rights would not be violated upon their return. However, there were doubts regarding whether their treatment during the twelve-day period after arrival, when they would be interrogated by the Algerian Security Services (DRS), would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights [4] (prohibition against inhuman and degrading treatment). Based largely on evidence of the poor treatment of a British citizen who was wrongfully detained in Algeria and interrogated by the DRS, the Court of Appeal found no guarantees the appellants would not be treated similarly and remitted the case “to SIAC for rehearing and redetermination.”