OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
19
expel an alien from its territory. That might be satisfied by arbitrary
detention which lasted many years but not 50 days’ detention.
(d) Article 6
59. On Article 6, taking the test to be whether there would be a
“complete denial or nullification” of the right to a fair trial, Lord Phillips
observed:
“136. This is neither an easy nor an adequate test of whether article 6 should bar the
deportation of an alien. In the first place it is not easy to postulate what amounts to ‘a
complete denial or nullification of the right to a fair trial’. That phrase cannot require
that every aspect of the trial process should be unfair. ... What is required is that the
deficiency or deficiencies in the trial process should be such as fundamentally to
destroy the fairness of the prospective trial.
137. In the second place, the fact that the deportee may find himself subject in the
receiving country to a legal process that is blatantly unfair cannot, of itself, justify
placing an embargo on his deportation. The focus must be not simply on the
unfairness of the trial process but on its potential consequences. An unfair trial is
likely to lead to the violation of substantive human rights and the extent of that
prospective violation must plainly be an important factor in deciding whether
deportation is precluded.”
60. Having reviewed, the relevant case-law of this Court, including
Bader and Kanbor v. Sweden, no. 13284/04, § 42, ECHR 2005-XI, which
he took to exemplify the need to consider the risk of a violation of Article 6
in combination with other Articles such as Articles 2 and 3, Lord Phillips
found:
“[T]he Strasbourg jurisprudence, tentative though it is, has led me to these
conclusions. Before the deportation of an alien will be capable of violating article 6
there must be substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk (i) that there
will be a fundamental breach of the principles of a fair trial guaranteed by article 6
and (ii) that this failure will lead to a miscarriage of justice that itself constitutes a
flagrant violation of the victim’s fundamental rights.”
61. In the present case, the second limb was met by the potential
sentences of imprisonment the applicant faced. For the first limb, Lord
Phillips concluded that, although the military constitution of the Jordanian
State Security Court would render the trial contrary to Article 6 if it were
held in a Convention State, he agreed with SIAC and the Court of Appeal,
that it could not amount to a “flagrant denial of justice” sufficient to prevent
deportation in a removal case.
62. In respect of the applicant’s complaint that there was a real risk that
the evidence against him had been obtained by torture, Lord Phillips held
that the Court of Appeal erred. It had required too high a degree of
assurance that evidence that might have been obtained by torture would not
be used in a foreign trial. He stated:
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