Justice Ouseley finds appeals under 2005 fast track procedure rules were too fast to be fair
In a judgment handed down on Friday, the High Court ruled that the detained fast track system (DFT) for the determination of asylum claims and appeals which operated between 2005 and 2014 was ultra vires and unlawful.
Image credit: WikipediaEIN members can read the judgment in TN (Vietnam) & US (Pakistan), R (On the Applications Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2017] EWHC 59 (Admin) here.
The Government suspended the detained fast track asylum process in July 2015 after a number of court rulings found the new rules for the process, introduced in 2014, were unlawful.
The charity Detention Action, which brought the legal challenges against the DFT, said on Friday that the new court judgment extends that finding to the previous 2005 fast track procedure rules (FTR), which were in operation between 2005 and 2014. The court found that these rules gave asylum seekers even less time to make appeals.
"I am clear that the 2005 FTR, in the context in which they operated in this case, meant the appeal was dealt with too fast to be fair," Mr Justice Ouseley said in the judgment.
According to the Guardian, Mr Justice Ouseley's ruling means that more than 10,000 asylum seekers can ask to have their cases heard again, though many have already been forcibly removed from the UK and may never get to hear about the decision.
Jerome Phelps, the director of Detention Action, said in response to the judgment: "This ruling confirms that for ten years the Home Office was putting asylum-seekers through a detained process that was unlawfully unfair. Countless thousands of people will have been deported, without ever having a lawful hearing of their cases. No-one can know their fate. The Home Office and the courts must make sure that never again are asylum-seekers systematically denied justice."
Emma Ginn, the coordinator of Medical Justice, told the Guardian: "The total sum of human suffering inflicted by the Detained Fast Track policy over the years has been immense. No one will ever know the true cost paid by victims of torture and others subject to this unfair process whom the Home Office disbelieved and deported. Many of our clients faced further persecution, some were never heard of again."
A spokesperson for the Home Office told the Guardian: "We have received the judgment and are considering it. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."