The Erol Incedal/Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar secret trial (Secret trial is over ... but reporting restrictions remain; Editorial, 17 April) is not as unique as you seem to suggest. Hearings at which the defendant is not allowed to know who has accused him, or of what, are now part of the normal process of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, set up under legislation dating back to 1997.
I am a member of a group which has been trying to help a refugee from Algeria who was, in 2001, given full asylum here. (The marks of torture are today on his body.) But then the secret wheels began to turn. He has, since 2003, been in prison, or out under severe restrictions, whenever “they” so decide. He cannot get to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg until his right to remain in the UK is finally rejected by our supreme court. Magna Carta? In more than one way, it is now ancient history.
Bruce Kent
London
