The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (also known by the

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

SIAC) is a superior

court of record A court of record is a trial court or appellate court in which a record of the proceedings is captured and preserved, for the possibility of appeal. A court clerk or a court reporter takes down a record of oral proceedings. That written recor ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

established by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 that deals with appeals from persons deported by the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

under various statutory powers, and usually related to matters of

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

. SIAC also hears persons deprived of

British citizenship British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...

under the

British Nationality Act 1981 The British Nationality Act 1981 (c.61) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983. History In the mid-1970s the British Government decided to update the nationality code, which had b ...

as amended by Section 4 of the

Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c. 41) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received royal assent on 7 November 2002. This Act created a number of changes to the law including: British Nationals with no othe ...

. An

appellant In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

is represented to the commission by a

special advocate A special advocate is a lawyer, usually a barrister or advocate, sometimes a solicitor, who is appointed to represent the interests of a party in closed proceedings, i.e. proceedings from which that party has been excluded. Special advocates are ge ...

who is a person

vetted Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone before offering them employment, conferring an award, or doing fact-checking prior to making any decision. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determine th ...

by the Security Service with controversy surrounding the use of

secret evidence Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

which only the judges and special advocates have access to. It previously had the power to certify a person as an

international terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

under Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 until this was repealed by the

Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (c 2) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, intended to deal with the Law Lords' ruling of 16 December 2004 that the detention without trial of eight foreigners (known as the 'Belmarsh 8') at H ...

References

External links

Apply to the Special Immigration Appeals CommissionSpecial Immigration Appeals Commission
''Guardian''.
"Secret evidence"
JUSTICE report, June 2009. {{UK legislation Immigration to the United Kingdom Counterterrorism in the United Kingdom United Kingdom tribunals Courts and tribunals established in 1997 1997 establishments in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links