Public Law Solicitors

It was declared at the High Court today that the Home Office’s treatment of four vulnerable detainees through the Fast Track Detention process was unlawful.

Following yesterday’s developments whereby Immigration Minister James Brokenshire made a statement to Parliament announcing the suspension of the Detained Fast Track (DFT) system, the High Court declared today that the treatment of four vulnerable detainees through a fast track asylum procedure was unlawful.

Each of the four claimants is a torture victim whose claim could not be fairly and quickly determined in an accelerated process. In each case, a medical practitioner in the detention centre expressed concern that the claimant(s) may be a victim of torture. Although the Home Office’s policy is not to detain and subject torture victims to a fast track process, each of these claimants was nevertheless put through the system.

This process has now been accepted as unfair by the Government and in an order approved by the High Court this morning, the Home Office now accepts that the subjection of the four claimants, who are representatives of a wider group of claimants, to the system was wrong and unfair.

The four claimants form part of a group litigation involving 27 claimants who all brought claims in the High Court to challenge their detention.
Toufique Hossain, Public Law Director at Duncan Lewis is representing the Claimants. He added;
“We are all delighted with the outcome today, that the judge has endorsed an agreement made between the SSHD and the Claimants. We hope that this decision will help numerous individuals in their claims for unlawful detention.”

Legal Team:

Duncan Lewis
Garden Court Chambers: Stephanie Harrison QC, Shu Shin Luh; Raza Halim; Leonie Hirst.