Human Rights Act 1998 and counter-terrorism law
Following the agreement of an arms deal between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia in March 2022, a demonstration was held in London to protest the deal. Whilst filming a segment on the demonstration, Clare, a journalist employed by ITV News, was questioned by the police, who alleged that she was inciting protestors to violence by interviewing them on their views regarding the arms deal. In response to a demand from Inspector Copper to cease her filming, Clare told the police that she had a responsibility to present the views of the protestors and that her right to do so was guaranteed by human rights legislation. This argument was rejected by Inspector Copper, who threatened to arrest her if she did not cease her activities.
At the same protest, Marcus, the editor of an influential communist blog that is critical of the government, had his laptop seized by the police following a search of his vehicle. The search was carried out without any reasonable suspicion and the laptop was seized by the police after they alleged that it contained sensitive information that had to be destroyed for the purposes of maintaining national security. Following the seizure of his laptop, Marcus was detained without charge for 18 days. Marcus was eventually placed under a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measure (TPIM) after closed material proceedings in the High Court. Marcus does not know why he has been placed under a TPIM, nor was his lawyer given the chance to attend the closed material proceedings.
Also present at the demonstration was Hassan, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, who was subjected to torture in Saudi Arabia in retribution for his protests against the regime, before he fled to the UK. Recently, Hassan has become very critical of the UK government and has accused them of being complicit in the war crimes carried out in Yemen by Saudi Arabia using British arms. Hassan has been using social media to mobilise people to protest the arms trade using increasingly disruptive methods, which the Home Secretary considers to be an incitement to domestic terrorism. The police were alerted to Hassan’s presence at the demonstration after he gave a speech imploring the protesters to “force the government to understand the error of their ways”. The Home Office has confirmed that it intends to deport Hassan to Saudi Arabia and revoke his British citizenship.
You are a Trainee Solicitor working for Lawless LLP. Your Supervising Solicitor has asked you to focus on the Articles of the Human Rights Act 1998 and counter-terrorism law, and produce a memo setting out the following for each client above:
What human rights issues does the above scenario raise.What action could be taken and what remedy should we seek and why.