Members of the team have advised victim groups seeking to initiate prosecutions in English, South African and Kenyan courts under domestic ICC legislation, and applying the principle of universal jurisdiction, for example in relation to Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and Israel. A member of the team also submitted written evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on amending the law on international crimes to allow retrospective prosecutions under the ICC Act 2001 and also acted as principal legal consultant for the Aegis Trust, the UK's Genocide trust, successfully campaigning with Aegis for a change in the law on international crimes. This resulted in section 70 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 which now permits genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since 1 January 1991, anywhere in the world, to be prosecuted in the UK when the perpetrator is British or a British resident.
Doughty Street International offers extensive expertise in advising on INTERPOL requests, the so-called Red Notices or diffusions. Its members are able to advise those concerned about potential prosecutions and can act to seek the withdrawal of abusive red notices. It boasts two leading experts who speak fluent Russian, while other members of the team have significant experience in dealing with INTERPOL related requests. Doughty Street International was noted by Fair Trials International as one of only four organisations of lawyers offering advice relating to INTERPOL.
Red notices are issued by INTERPOL as a means of securing the arrest and return of wanted persons to an INTERPOL member state. They have far reaching and potentially indefinite consequences for the individual concerned. They can be issued even if an extradition request has been defeated in a different member state on the basis that the criminal proceedings are politically motivated, and even if the wanted person has been recognised as a refugee on the same basis.
Members of our team have acted in a number of cases to remove abusive red notices issued by INTERPOL, recently succeeding in the case of a Libyan national whose red notice was removed by INTERPOL as being politically motivated. We have advised a large number of clients in Argentina, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, in particular, who were the subject of politically motivated red notices. Besides seeking to delete abusive red notices and diffusions members of DSI engage with the authorities to secure the best possible outcome for their clients.
We can give advice in relation to several issues:
- How to find out that you are subject to a red notice
- What are the consequences of being subject to a red notice
- How to challenge a red notice
Doughty Street International is proud to have a number of members with genuine expertise in counter-terrorism law and practice. We have acted in many of the leading cases concerned with counter-terrorism in the international context. Members of the team also regularly advise governments, corporations and individuals on their exposure to issues arising from counter-terrorism and provide training to members of the judiciary, lawyers, law enforcement officers and human rights workers across the globe.
Kirsty Brimelow KC has extensive experience of Counter-Terrorism issues.
She is regularly involved in cases where people are detained for “terrorism” but where the evidence points simply to freedom of expression. She is currently working on the trial of Alwefaq’s Secretary General, Shaikh Ali Salman.
Kirsty has also carried out extensive training in African countries related to legal issues arising out from Counter-Terrorism. As examples, she trained Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission on terrorism law and international law and, in partnership with UNICEF, Kirsty trained Child Protection Networks in Nigeria on child rights including terrorism law and international law.
Tim Moloney KC has appeared in almost all of the UK’s major terrorist trials in the last 15 years. He was counsel for the Appellant in the UK Supreme Court case of Gul, which considered the international meaning of terrorism in the context of a Non-International Armed Conflict. He is the author of the Terrorism section of Blackstone’s Criminal Practice, published by Oxford University Press.
Tim has frequently provided training for judges and lawyers in Terrorism law and practice under the auspices of the UNODC in Africa and Asia.
He regularly advises international NGOs and media organisations on their exposure to terrorist risks in their operations.
Nancy Hollander has represented, and continues to represent, a number of clients detained in Guatanamo Bay. Her current clients include a Yemeni-Saudi man who is facing the death penalty in a military commission trial. Another is a Mauritanian man imprisoned in Guantanamo. Nancy is working with people in various countries in an attempt to find a country willing to take him upon his release.
The Doughty Street Extradition Team offers unrivalled expertise in extradition law. Its members appear in the most high profile and complex extradition cases ranging from war crimes cases to multinational frauds. Members of the team have appeared in the leading extradition cases at all levels including landmark cases before the Supreme Court, House of Lords and Privy Council. The team has a unique international reach and has conducted cases before the courts of Northern Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, and various Caribbean jurisdictions including Trinidad and Tobago and Belize. We lead the way in litigating successful test cases on fundamental human rights and evolving areas of extradition law, setting many of the benchmark authorities on terrorism, torture, prisons, fair trial, passage of time, abuse of process and family life which are quoted daily in courts around the world.
The extradition team advises on extradition requests and mutual legal assistance before the Courts anywhere in the world, for example defending US requests before the Courts in Caribbean jurisdictions.
High-profile extradition cases of team members include Gary McKinnon v USA, Aswat v UK; Richard O’Dwyer v USA, USA v Babar Ahmad, Sweden v Julian Assange, Serbia v Ganic, USA v Christopher Tappin, Gary Mann v Portugal, Barry & Al-Fawwaz v SSHD, Symeou v. Greece, Gomes v Trinidad and Tobago, Norris v USA, HH v Italy & F-K v Poland and test cases concerning the UAE and Russia. We advise Ministries of Justice and local authorities and have appeared on behalf of governments and judicial authorities of over 30 countries. In the last 2 years we are proud to have won the only two defence extradition victories in the Supreme Court, judgments that made real changes across the extradition courts.
Our publications on extradition law, include the Extradition Law Handbook (Oxford University Press) and the Extradition Law Reports.
We have acted in numerous challenges to Interpol Red Notices and succeeded in securing the deletion of diffusion notices thereby defeating restrictions on travel and arrests. The team members have presented seminars and training on challenging Red Notices and have drafted expert reports for the use in English proceedings in relation to the operation of Interpol.
Two members of the team speak fluent Russian and the team as a whole is highly experienced in advising on Russia-based or related extradition or Interpol cases.
The team draws upon its unique expertise in international and human rights law to mount the strongest possible defence to extradition requests from across the world. The team boasts six acknowledged leaders in the field of extradition law (Chambers and Partners 2015), led by ‘star individual’ Edward Fitzgerald KC and Liberty Lawyer of the Year 2012, Ben Cooper KC.
The Doughty Street Extradition Team offers unparalleled strength in depth in this growing specialist field of international law.
Doughty Street International has leading specialist expertise in conflict of laws regarding establishment of jurisdiction in relation to virtually any kind of civil case. These issues commonly arise in contractual disputes, employment cases, and in negligence and other tort cases. They also arise in property disputes, particularly in the context of divorce or inheritance, and in insolvency cases involving assets in more than one jurisdiction. We are at the cutting edge of knowledge concerning alternative routes for cross-border enforcement of judgments within European jurisdictions which are under redevelopment post-Brexit, and have established expertise in conflict of laws rules across common law jurisdictions.
Paul Harris SC, has practised for many years in both England & Wales and Hong Kong, and authored the leading textbook on Conflict of Laws in Hong Kong. He acted successfully in a landmark conflict of laws case in the Hong Kong Court of Appeal concerning the ability to sue for damage in a different jurisdiction from that in which it was sustained (Fong Chak Kwan v Ascentic Ltd & Ors [2021] 6 HKC 401).
