Kanu’s brother said, “My family is delighted that the Court of Appeal has unhesitatingly recognised the importance and urgency of Nnamdi’s case.”
By Jeffrey Agbo
A senior British Court of Appeal judge, Lord Justice Lewis, has granted the family of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), 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 Kanu was tortured, subjected to extraordinary rendition and arbitrarily detained.
In a ruling on March 23, 2023, the UK High Court had declined Kanu’s family’s suit for judicial review of the failure of the British government to reach a firm view in Kanu’s extraordinary rendition.
This earlier ruling prompted an application for leave to appeal to British Court of Appeal by the Bindmans LLP, the UK law firm representing the Kanu family in the case.
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In the current order made on May 8 assuming jurisdiction over the appeal, Lord Justice Lewis 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 Kanu, the Court of Appeal ordered that the hearing of the appeal be expedited. Accordingly, the hearing has been listed for June 22, 2023.
Reacting to the ruling, Kanu’s brother, Kingsley, said in a statement released on Wednesday by the IPOB leader’s special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, that: “My family is delighted that the Court of Appeal has unhesitatingly recognised the importance and urgency of Nnamdi’s case.”
