Nnamdi Kanu's family allowed to defy UK government

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A hearing has been granted to the family of Nnamdi Kanu, to challenge the British government for not intervening in his case with the Nigerian government.

Kanu, a British citizen who was allegedly taken to Nigeria in an extraordinary act of restitution, is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, a major separatist movement banned in Nigeria.

He was arrested in Kenya in June last year before being transported against his will to Nigeria, where he has been detained ever since.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an advisory in July that the father-of-two had been subject to extraordinary rendition and said he should be released immediately.< /p>

However, successive British foreign ministers, first Dominic Raab and then Liz Truss, before she became prime minister, refused to comment on whether Kanu had been the victim of a rendition extraordinary.

The family won a judicial review to challenge the refusal, arguing that its effect was that no action was taken to help them, reports The Guardian UK.

“The UK government is well known for its position on human rights. I think it needs to be decisive when it comes to making decisions about very serious human rights abuses of British citizens overseas, particularly when the facts are clear, as they are in the case of my brother, and when the UN has investigated and reached a firm conclusion that my brother has been the subject of a extraordinary restitution. I am very pleased that the court agreed that a hearing was necessary to decide this important issue," the IPOB leader's brother, Kingsley Kanu, reportedly said.

Shirin Marker of Bindmans LLP, which represents Kingsley Kanu, said it was essential that new Foreign Secretary James Cleverly reach a firm conclusion on whether his client's brother had been the victim of extraordinary restitution in order to decide what action to take to help him.

"The evidence available to date establishes that he was subjected to extraordinary renditions and torture or inhuman treatment," she said. “It is unacceptable that the UK government continues to dither on this issue. We are pleased that the court has now allowed this case to proceed to a final hearing. »

Explaining her decision to grant a judicial review hearing, Madam Justice Ellenbogen said: "Such decisions/inactions are, in principle, reviewable and do not enter into prohibited areas, including decisions affecting the foreign policy."