BID was granted permission by the Court of Appeal to intervene and to make oral submissions in the case of BA & Others, the hearing for which was held on 13 March.
This is an appeal by the Secretary of State (SSHD) who is arguing that BA should not have been granted permission to proceed with a claim for false imprisonment. Such action can be taken by claimants up to 6 years after their alleged false imprisonment has ended. The SSHD is instead arguing that BA either previously raised the issue of her unlawful detention, or in the alternative, that she should have raised this issue in her previous judicial review claim that challenged her removal from the UK.
BID believes that it is essential that a person’s right to make a claim for false imprisonment should be maintained even where a claim for wrongful detention has in fact been previously heard by way of a claim for judicial review against unlawful detention. The standards of proof are quite different. Judicial review of unlawful detention is an immediate step taken to obtain a person’s release where they are being unlawfully detained. But as the SSHD has herself argued in relation to the case of Abdi that is presently before the European Court of Human Rights (where BID has also intervened by way of written submissions) a claim for false imprisonment allows for “a wide array of fact-finding tools” which includes hearing oral evidence from witnesses, including under cross-examination, and regulating the disclosure of evidence. BID is also concerned to ensure that former detainees should have their right of making a claim of false imprisonment protected in view of the obstacles they face in obtaining access to legal representation and full disclosure of evidence while they are detained.
