By Louis Goss
The UK government must publish six out of ten extracts from internal documents relating to Rwanda’s human rights record after the government sought to withhold them from the public, the High Court ruled today.
Lord Justice Clive Lewis said the majority of the ten extracts should be made public after the government argued publishing them would damage the UK’s relations with Rwanda and threaten Britain’s national security.
The judge ruled that it was in the public interest that six of the ten extracts are published despite the “real risk of causing serious harm to the United Kingdom’s international relations particularly with Rwanda.”
The ruling comes after The Times, The Guardian, and the BBC, challenged the UK government’s bid to prevent the extracts from being published.
Sophie Lucas, a solicitor at Duncan Lewis, the law firm that challenged the Rwanda policy, said her clients welcomed the verdict.
“The court recognised the seriousness of this challenge and the important role of the press as the eyes and ears of the public,” Lucas told City A.M.
The High Court is set to determine whether it is lawful for the UK government to send asylum seekers to Rwanda on 5 September.
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