‘Laughable’ secrecy

The Home Secretary’s insistence on secrecy in the “Three Musketeers” terror trial, due to the threat to national security of confirming or denying involvement of MI5, was derided as “laughable”.

The trial of Naweed Ali and three others was partly held behind closed doors to avoid putting security services on the spot in public. Whether or not the security service was “in a relationship” with any defendants should be held in secret to protect “operational effectiveness of the security service and in particular its ability to recruit and retain agents”, the Home Office said.

It said confirmation or denial had the “potential to increase the risks to a person’s safety and security in future cases”.

But Rajiv Menon QC, for Ali and Mohibur Rahman, said: “How can it be a threat to national security for that disclosure to be made. It’s laughable.”