In reviving plans to make inquests secret, Jack Straw proves yet again that he is one of the chief enemies of our free society.

Last year the proposal was dumped by Jacqui Smith because of the huge opposition to the idea that ministers could order press, relatives and the public from controversial hearings in a coroner's court on the grounds that information is too sensitive for public consumption.

Floated in the counter-terrorism bill, it drew opposition from the joint committee on human rights and organisations such as the Coroners' Society which said that ministers would abuse the rules to cover up inconvenient hearings.

You have only to recall the disgraceful conduct of the inquest into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes by the police, the government's acute embarrassment in cases when poorly equipped servicemen are killed on active service, or the deaths of Dr David Kelly and Princess Diana to know that the temptation to suppress public knowledge would be irresistible to Straw and the members of this shoddy, cynical authoritarian regime.

Coroners courts are not part of the state's apparatus. They belong to the people and it is the public's right to know any evidence that is disclosed during the inquest into a death.

As usual the government raises the spectre of terrorism and the need for security to push its sinister agenda. It says that phone taps and sensitive intelligence may become known in open court, and that secrecy would only be imposed in a small number of hearings.

We have heard this all before and we know about the process of function creep. Once the law is on the statute book ministers and civil servants abuse them, and in the case of inquests there will be enormous pressure from the police to reduce the amount of embarrassing material heard in court.

One of the more unpleasant symptoms of the erosion or procedure and respect for rights in our society are the increasing number of people who are roughed up in police custody and by prison officers. How long would it be before Straw's law becomes the means of covering up deaths when things have got out of hand in the cells?

Open inquests, like jury trial, are an inalienable right in a democracy. This proposal should be opposed to the last and its author condemned.

The Guardian is the media partner for The Convention on Modern Liberty, taking place on Saturday February 28 2009, which will debate these and other issues. You can buy tickets here