Yakubu
A Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom has granted permission to the family of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to challenge a judgement which okayed the British governments silence on his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.
Aloy Ejimakor, Mr Kanus special counsel, disclosed this in a statement, Wednesday.
The court had, on 23 March, dismissed a suit filed by Mr Kanus family seeking a judicial review of the UK governments failure to reach a firm view in the IPOB leaders extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.
In the suit, Mr Kanu, a BritishNigerian citizen, wanted the court to compel the UK government to acknowledge and condemn his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.
The court, presided by Justice Swift, had ruled that the British authorities could lawfully evade reaching any conclusion on whether Mr Kanu was subjected to torture, detention and extraordinary rendition.
Mr Kanus family, through their legal representatives, Bindmans LLP, consequently applied for leave to challenge the court ruling.
Mr Ejimakor said Justice Lewis, a senior judge of the UK court, on 8 May, granted the family the permission to appeal the court ruling.
The grounds of appeal raise important issues concerning the scope of the obligations on the respondent in relation to requests for consular assistance in respect of British nationals detained abroad and the proper interpretation and application of the decision of the Court of Appeal in R (Abassi) v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2003 UKHRR 76, Mr Lewis, the judge, was quoted as saying.
For those reasons, there is a compelling reason for the appeal to be heard, within the meaning of CPR 52.6(1)(b).
Permission is granted on all three grounds, he declared.
The IPOB leaders lawyer added that the court also ordered the hearing of the appeal to be expedited because of the continued solitary confinement of Mr Kanu in Nigeria.
The appeal was fixed to be heard, if reasonably possible, before 14 July or as soon as reasonably possible thereafter, according to a court document posted by Mr Ejimakor on his Twitter handle.
Accordingly, the hearing has been listed for Thursday 22nd June 2023, he stated.
A younger brother to the IPOB leader, Kingsley Kanu, said their family was delighted that the court has unhesitatingly recognised the importance and urgency of the Kanus case, Mr Ejimakor said.
Keypoints
- Background
- Share this
- Support PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
- Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
- For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
- By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.