A. AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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48. In its judgment of 29 October 2003, SIAC observed as follows:
“Although we have to make our decision on the basis both of the open and of the
closed material, it is important to indicate the case against [the sixth applicant] as it
has been set out by the Secretary of State in open material, because that is the case
that [the sixth applicant] knows that he has to meet. In assessing his statement and the
other evidence and arguments submitted on his behalf, we remind ourselves always
that he is not aware of the Secretary of State’s closed material, but nevertheless that he
is not operating entirely in a vacuum because of the open allegations; and we may test
the Appellant’s own case by the way he deals with those allegations.
The Secretary of State’s case against [the sixth applicant] is summarised as follows:
(1) he belongs to and/or is a member of the GSPC, and previously was involved
with the GIA;
(2) he has supported and assisted the GSPC (and previously the GIA) through his
involvement in credit card fraud which is a main source of income in the United
Kingdom for the GSPC;
(3) from about August 2000, [the sixth applicant] took on an important role in
procuring telecommunications equipment for the GSPC and the provision of logistical
support for satellite phones by way of purchase and allocation of airtimes for those
phones;
(4) he has also played an important part in procuring telecommunications
equipment and other equipment for the Mujahaddin fighting in Chechnya – that is to
say the faction which until 2002 was under the command of Ibn Khattab.”
SIAC then reviewed the open evidence before it regarding the purchase
by Abu Doha, assisted by the sixth and seventh applicants, of a number of
satellite telephones and other telecommunications equipment to the value of
229,265 pounds sterling and the nature and extent of the connection
between the sixth and seventh applicants. It concluded:
“In the circumstances we have set out, it appears to us that the Secretary of State has
ample ground for suspicion that [the sixth applicant’s] procurement activities were
directed to the support of the extremist Arab Islamist faction fighting in Chechnya.
That support arises from [the sixth applicant’s] connections with and support of the
GSPC. We emphasise, as is the case with other appeals as well, that it is the
accumulation of factors, each lending support to the others rather than undermining
other points, providing colour and context for the activities seen as a whole which is
persuasive; it would be wrong to take a piece in isolation, thereby to diminish its
significance and to miss the larger picture. The generic judgment supports these
conclusions. These are activities falling centrally within the derogation. [The sixth
applicant] has provided only implausible denials and has failed to offer credible
alternative explanations. That is sufficient to determine his appeal, without making
any further reference to the Secretary of State’s other allegations which, as was
acknowledged in the open statement and in open evidence before [SIAC], can be
properly sustained only by examination of the closed material.”