European Union Rights Court Permits Secret Hearing
The European Court for Human Rights dismissed the claims of three students who said that their almost two weeks of detention without charges violated their human rights.
The three students were residing in the UK on student visas when they were detained and since then have been returned to their home country, Pakistan. The students claimed that they were brought into court twice in order for officers to extend their detention. The students and their legal representatives were missing from some parts of their hearings.
The majority judgement decided that even though there is an absence of express provision in the relevant law, the judge had the authority to appoint a special advocate if he thought it was necessary enough to do so to ensure the fairness of the proceedings. However, the applicants had not requested the appointment of a special advocate.
