The United Kingdom Court of Appeal is currently hearing the appeal of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu's extraordinary rendition.
SaharaReporters in May reported that the UK Court of Appeal fixed June 22, 2023 to hear the appeal.
On Thursday, Kanu’s Special Counsel, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, when contacted by SaharaReporters gave the background of the ongoing hearing in London.
Ejimakor said, “In an Order on 8th May 2023, Lord Justice Lewis, a senior British Court of Appeal judge, granted the family of Nnamdi Kanu permission to appeal the UK High Court judgment that found that the British authorities could lawfully evade reaching any conclusion on whether Mr Nnamdi Kanu has been tortured, subjected to extraordinary rendition and arbitrarily detained.
“It will be recalled that in a ruling on 23rd March 2023, the UK High Court had declined Kanu family’s suit for judicial review of the failure of the British government to reach a firm view in Nnamdi Kanu’s extraordinary rendition. This earlier ruling prompted an application for leave to appeal to the British Court of Appeal by the Bindmans, the Lead Counsel representing the Kanu family in the case.
“While assuming jurisdiction over the appeal, Lord Justice Lewis of the Court Appeals noted that: “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.
“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.”
“And citing the urgency arising from the continued solitary confinement of Nnamdi Kanu, the Court of Appeal ordered that the hearing of the appeal be expedited. Accordingly, the hearing was listed for Thursday 22nd June 2023 and is currently underway.”
SaharaReporters reports that Kanu remained in solitary confinement at the detention facility of the Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) since he was renditioned from Kenyan in June 2021.
Although, the Nigerian government has not officially disclosed where it's security agencies abducted Kanu.
SaharaReporters had reported that the Court of Appeal, Abuja division had on October 13, 2022 discharged Kanu, of the 15-count terrorism charges brought against him by the federal government.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision, faulted the process through which Kanu was brought before the Federal High Court to answer to a 15-count terrorism charges.
Reacting to the judgment, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, had said the appeal court only discharged and not acquitted Kanu.
The appeal court ruled that the arrest, abduction and subsequent arraignment of Kanu before a Federal High Court violated international convention on terrorism and, thus, robbed any court of law in Nigeria necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Justice Adedotun Adefope-Okijie, who read the judgement of the three-man panel, noted that there was nowhere the federal government showed it complied with the procedures for the extradition of the IPOB leader from Kenya.
Reacting to the judgment, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, had said the appeal court only discharged and not acquitted Kanu.
The appeal court ruled that the arrest, abduction and subsequent arraignment of Kanu before a Federal High Court violated international convention on terrorism and, thus, robbed any court of law in Nigeria necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
SaharaReporters had also reported that United Nations working group on arbitrary detention and human rights violations in July 2022 issued a communication to Nigeria government demanding release of Nnamdi Kanu within six months of communication and to pay him adequate reparations. The deadline of the communication had since elapsed in December 31, 2022 and Kanu remained in solitary confinement in the DSS cell.