On 8 and 9 May 2012 the High Court will hear a judicial review test case brought by family members of the 24 unarmed men brutally massacred by British soldiers in 1948 at the village of Batang Kali, Malaya. The family members are seeking a public inquiry or other effective, independent investigation into what happened at Batang Kali, its misrepresentation as lawful and justified by British officials, and the active steps taken to suppress the truth. They will ask the High Court to quash decisions of the Secretaries of State for Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs refusing both that inquiry and investigation.
There will be a press conference at 10.30 AM next Bank Holiday Monday, 7 May 2012, at Bindmans LLP, 4th Floor, 236 Gray’s Inn Road, London with several of the surviving family members, including two who were present as children when the massacre began, their Malaysian and UK-based lawyers and the authors of Slaughter and Deception and Batang Kali.
The trial itself begins at 9.30 am on 8 May 2012 in the Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand. Given the importance of the case it will be heard by a Divisional Court (comprising a Lord Justice of Appeal and an experienced High Court Judge).