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High Court rules detention of torture victim in Detained Fast Track unlawful (21 August 2017)

Date: 21/08/2017
Duncan Lewis, Main Solicitors, High Court rules detention of torture victim in Detained Fast Track unlawful

The High Court has ruled, in YA v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 2135, that it was unlawful for the Home Office to detain YA, a torture victim who provided indicators of vulnerability, including a letter from the Helen Bamber Foundation that stated the detainee’s case merited further clinical investigation.

The Administrative Court held, “without hesitation, in light of the concession and declaration in JM that it was unlawful not to release the Claimant within one day of receipt of the letter [from the Helen Bamber Foundation].”

The High Court also stated that “there was an unacceptable failure to identify him as a potentially vulnerable person whose case required further investigation and therefore as someone whose claim was not in fact suitable for retention within the DFT because it could not be dealt with fairly and quickly within the DFT. The combined process of screening and the operation of Rules 34 and 35 had the proper procedures been followed would have identified him as a possible victim of torture. The unacceptable risk of failure referred to in the "unsuitability for DFT declaration" of Blake J applies squarely to the facts of this Claimant's circumstances and experience in the DFT.”

The decision of JM & Ors v SSHD & Anor [2015] EWHC 2331 led to the suspension of the Detained Fast Track (DFT) in 2015. However, despite this, the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) has continued to defend decisions to unlawfully detain vulnerable persons whose cases matched with those in JM.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ Krisha Prathepan acted as instructing solicitor for YA, who was also represented by Raza Halim of Garden Court Chambers in this case. The Duncan Lewis Public Law team and Raza Halim, as junior Counsel, also represented the lead claimants in JM & Ors.

Following the outcome of AY, Krisha Prathepan commented:

“It is astonishing that the Secretary of State for the Home Office continues to defend these cases despite the landmark judgment in JM & Ors that caused the DFT to be suspended. The failures in procedural safeguards, which were identified and accepted by the SSHD in JM, were all at large in this case. The SSHD should have taken accountability for her unlawful treatment of our vulnerable client rather than causing him to pursue his case all the way to a final hearing, so as to vindicate that which should have been clear to the Home Office all along. Hopefully the SSHD will reflect on this judgment and modify her approach to these cases involving the most vulnerable people seeking protection.”

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