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Friday 12 February 2016

BBC Correspondent Confirms Use of Secret Courts But Can’t Report It

True Publica 

This article first appeared yesterday, February 10th, was posted on bbc.com and was written by the BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent Dominic Caciani. This piece echoes one that truepublica published just a few months ago entitled The Use Of Secret Courts Confirms The End Of Democracy In Britain. If you have not read it either, you should. The use of secret courts should raise the hairs on the back of your neck as it demonstrates an alarming rise of authoritarianism in Britain today.

The first paragraph of the trupublica piece reads as follows; “The use of secret courts is a place where trials take place that is not open to the public, nor generally reported in the news and generally no official record of the case or the judge’s verdict is made available. Often there is no legal allegation. The accused is usually not able to obtain the counsel of an lawyer or confront witnesses for the prosecution, and the proceedings are characterised by a perceived miscarriage of justice to the benefit of the ruling powers of the society. This is the stuff of cold war Russia and Nazi Germany – right? Think again.”


BBC Headline – Secret trial: One off – or the first of many?


BBC Correspondent’s Sub Headline – BREAKING: Reporter can’t tell you what’s happened.

 

Possibly the worst headline I’ve ever written. But before I’m accused of completely failing to perform basic contractual duties, allow me to explain why those seven words are rather important.

Since 2013, the BBC and almost every other leading news organisation in the UK has been locked in a bizarre battle to tell you the truth about Erol Incedal. “Who’s he?” I hear you ask. He’s a student from London who was accused of preparing some kind of major terrorism plan. And then after two trials he was found not guilty of that allegation. But I can’t tell you why.

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