The Strange Case of Witness J

I don't usually post in this subforum, but it appears to be the appropriate place for this curious episode in Australian legal history.

'The quiet person you pass on the street': Secret prisoner Witness J revealed

Quote:

Just 13 words are all there are on the public record to note one of the most extraordinary episodes in Australian legal history. After a secret trial of a secret prisoner, the sentence was delivered — you guessed it — in complete secrecy. You have to know what you're looking for, but even when you find those 13 words, they are not at all illuminating. In fact, they would defeat the purpose of being there at all, were it not for the legal tease they present. "Before Justice Burns, in Court Room SC4, at 10:00am," it starts promisingly enough. Then comes the inevitable punchline: "Sentence: Matter Suppressed." The date was February 19 of this year. The venue was the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra. Exactly why the Commonwealth and the justice system should conspire to allow such exceptional measures has unnerved legal experts and dismayed former judges. "Permanently secret legal proceedings is not the kind of conduct we want an Australian justice system to include," said barrister Bret Walker, a former independent national security legislation monitor. An investigation by the ABC has uncovered the remarkable events that led to the secret trial, the unravelling of a man's impressive career and the circumstances of his arrest, which led to a jail sentence of two years and seven months for serious national security offences.

What are we to make of this?

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2qr4FCw