A UK Court of Appeal has granted the family of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), permission to challenge a ruling approving the UK government’s silence on his rendition to Nigeria.
Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu’s special counsel, revealed this in a statement on Wednesday.
The court, on March 23, dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mr Kanu’s family seeking a judicial review of the UK government’s failure to reach “a firm opinion” on the extraordinary rendition of the IPOB leader to Nigeria. .
In the suit, Kanu, a British-Nigerian citizen, wanted the court to force the UK government to recognize and sentence his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.
The court, chaired by Justice Swift, ruled that the UK authorities could legally evade reaching a conclusion as to whether Mr Kanu was subjected to torture, detention and extraordinary rendition.
Mr. Kanu’s family, through their legal representatives, Bindmans LLPfor which reason he requested authorization to challenge the court ruling.
Mr Ejimakor said that Judge Lewis, a senior judge of the UK court, on May 8, granted the family permission to appeal the court’s ruling.
“The grounds for appeal raise important questions about the extent of the defendant’s obligations in relation to requests for consular assistance in respect of British citizens 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,” Judge Lewis said.
“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 for all three reasons,” he declared.
The IPOB leader’s lawyer added that the court also ordered the appeal hearing to be expedited due to Mr. Kanu’s continued “solitary confinement” in Nigeria.
The appeal is set to be heard, if reasonably possible, before July 14 or as soon as reasonably possible thereafter, according to a court document posted by Ejimakor on his Twitter account.
“Consequently, the hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, June 22, 2023,” he said.
A younger brother of IPOB leader Kingsley Kanu said his family was delighted that the court had “unhesitatingly recognized the importance and urgency” of Kanu’s case, Ejimakor said.
Background
Kanu was first arrested in 2015 but released on bail in April 2017. He fled the country after the Nigerian army invaded his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, in September this year.
He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, some four years after he fled the country.
The Abuja Court of Appeal on October 13 held that the IPOB leader was extraordinarily handed over to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a violation of his fundamental human rights.
Therefore, the court struck down the terrorism charges brought against Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the custody of the State Security Service (SSS).
But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) might not be available in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the south-east.
The government, through the Federal Attorney General’s Office, subsequently appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order suspending the enforcement of the court ruling in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Mr. Kanu is challenging the stay of the execution order preventing his release from SSS custody.
The IPOB leader petitioned the high court to annul the stay of the execution order on the grounds that the Court of Appeal judges erred in law when they stopped the execution of their own order that freed him.