The disclosure that the government paid 1 million compensation for unfair detainment to a British suicide bomber who was operating for so-called Islamic State seems scandalous. But a senior lawyer with a close knowledge of the case says the then Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, would have felt he had no choice – in that failure to make the out-of-court settlement with Jamal al-Harith would have resulted in highly sensitive security information being disclosed in a court case.