Fact:
On October 27, 2018, domestic terrorist Robert D. Bowers carried out an anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. He fired on congregants as they gathered for worship, killing 11 people and wounding six others.
Last week was the third week of the inquest into the deaths of two young people murdered at Fishmongers Hall, London by convicted terrorist Usman Khan. Khan was under state supervision after release from prison at the time of the attack on 29 November 2019. Please see here for the week two summary of this case.
Public Interest Immunity
Each week, as well as a summary of the main developments, I am also looking at aspects of the inquest that may be of interest to our international readers. Public Interest Immunity (PII) is one such example.
PII is a process whereby the Coroner may exclude or modify evidence, even if this is deemed highly relevant, on the basis that disclosure might pose an unacceptable risk to national security. The Secretary of State for the Home Department (effectively our minister of the Interior, responsible for most of the U.K.’s security intelligence agencies) is under a duty to apply for PII if she believes that the disclosure of information would undermine our counter terrorism effort. For example, this might be in terms of information passed by covert human intelligence sources (i.e., informants) that could expose their identity and compromise them. It could also include disclosure of methods used by the security services to track terrorists and review attacks that might be useful to other extremists. Both reasons were used for PII applications to the Coroner in the case of Khan. The Coroner reviewed the applications against his duty to ensure that the inquest jury has all relevant information before it to serve open justice and allow an effective inquiry. The Coroner, Judge Mark Lucraft QC, recorded that following his review of the applications, ‘the Secretary of State accepted that her PII claim should be abandoned in respect of some documents and that in other respects it should be adjusted.’ This is quite normal in such sensitive inquests and the Coroner was explicit in saying it did not imply criticism of her actions.
Key events from last week.
This week’s testimony will include witnesses on counterterrorism policy and practice from HM Prison and Probation senior officials and front-line practitioners who carried out assessments of Khan’s risk.
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On October 27, 2018, domestic terrorist Robert D. Bowers carried out an anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. He fired on congregants as they gathered for worship, killing 11 people and wounding six others.
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