The family of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has hired two top legal firms to file a kidnapping case against Nigeria in the United Kingdom.
They are also demanding urgent consular assistance from the British government.
The family of Kanu, a British national instructed lawyers to press the British authorities to provide immediate consular access to him.
Mr Kanu is currently detained in Nigeria, where his family instruct he is being held in solitary confinement without urgent, necessary medical treatment.
In June 2021, Mr Kanu was detained by Kenyan officials before being transferred by Nigerian authorities across the border from Kenya to the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
“At the time of the transfer, Mr Kanu was not in possession of his British passport. The transfer by Nigerian authorities, without identification documents and with the aim of rendition to justice, amounts to extraordinary rendition and is unlawful under international law”, Bindmans and Doughty Street Chambers, the law firms defending Kanu said in a statement on Friday.
“Bindmans LLP are instructed by Mr Kanu’s family to request that the British government provides consular assistance to Mr Kanu and urgently takes steps to intervene in his ongoing detention. Bindmans have written to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) requesting consular assistance for Mr Kanu. To date, the FCDO have failed to provide such assistance to Mr Kanu.
Mr Kanu’s kidnapping follows an increase in the Nigerian government’s repression of Biafran separatists. According to Amnesty International, between August 2015 and August 2016 alone, more than 150 people were killed by the Nigerian military at pro-Biafra rallies.
Shirin Marker, solicitor at Bindmans LLP who is representing the family of Mr Kanu, said: “We have asked the British authorities to provide urgent consular assistance to Mr Kanu. This is essential given the allegations that he is currently being tortured and the risk to his life whilst he remains in detention. We urge the FCDO to act immediately before it is too late”.
Mr Kanu’s family are represented by Shirin Marker and John Halford of Bindmans LLP, and Tatyana Eatwell and Professor Rachel Murray of Doughty Street Chambers.
Profile of the lawyers
John Halford is a public law specialist. As a litigator, he has focused on judicial review work since 1993, challenging the unfair exercise and abuse of power by public authorities, human rights breaches and discrimination.
John represents individuals, campaign and action groups, unions, charities, schools, professional associations and regulators, arts organisations and commercial companies – not only as judicial review claimants but also as interested parties and interveners in cases brought by others that affect their interests or those of people they represent. He has had a number of notable successes in high profile test cases in the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords and the UK Supreme Court, most recently in the Article 50 litigation, where he represented a group of interested parties. He has European Court of Human Rights experience at Grand Chamber level.
John is also a source of decisive and trusted advice on a wide range of complex public law issues. His advisory caseload spans Brexit and other EU law issues, regulatory and licensing, professional disciplinary, procurement, planning, pensions and human rights law matters.
Shirin represents clients in a wide range of public and international law matters, with a particular interest in challenges relating to immigration, national security and data protection. Shirin has been recognised in the Legal 500 for her experience in international law and data protection.
Shirin is experienced in bringing judicial review and civil claims against the State (including the Home Office, the FCDO and the Ministry of Defence). She has represented victims of trafficking, torture and rendition, individuals deprived of their British citizenship and those subject to restrictive counter-terrorism measures such as Temporary Exclusion Orders.
Shirin is also experienced in challenging decisions by the police and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) concerning disclosure of information, police record deletion requests, appeals before the Information Tribunal and civil claims for data protection breaches.
She is instructed by both individual clients and NGOs.
Tatyana has expertise in public international law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international human rights law.
Tatyana advises States, individuals, international and non-governmental organisations on a wide range of public international law and international human rights law issues. Her cases include matters concerning arbitrary detention, extra-judicial killing, war crimes and terrorism, sanctions, self-determination, and State responsibility.
Tatyana has acted in high-profile criminal appeals before the UK Supreme Court that concern the interpretation of international law on, for example, war crimes, terrorism, and torture, and the application of international law in domestic proceedings.
Tatyana acts as specialist human rights counsel in enforcement proceedings in the Commercial Court.
Tatyana was awarded her PhD in Public International Law from the University of Cambridge in February 2020.
Rachel Murray is Professor of International Human Rights Law at the University of Bristol and one of the founders and now Director of its Human Rights Implementation Centre.
Rachel undertakes regular work on the African human rights system, implementation of human rights law, OPCAT and torture prevention, among other areas. She has written widely in this area (e.g. Implementation of the Findings of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, with Debbie Long, Cambridge University Press, 2015; The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture, OUP, with Steinerte, Evans and Hallo de Wolf), and articles in leading legal human rights journals.
She advises national, regional and international organisations as well as governments and individuals on human rights law. She has held a number of grants, including a major grant from the ESRC on implementation which tracked decisions from the regional and UN treaty bodies to examine the extent to which the States have complied with them.
She is the Vice Chair of the Board of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, a Fellow of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex and a magistrate.
