Judicial review concerning Foreign Secretary’s response to rendition and detention of British citizen, Nnamdi Kanu, in Nigeria

Tuesday 15 November:  Full hearing of judicial review brought on behalf of British citizen, Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, concerning the Foreign Secretary’s unwillingness to reach a decisive view as to whether Mr Kanu is arbitrarily detained and a victim of extraordinary rendition.

Mr Kanu disappeared in Kenya on 19 June 2021 and re-appeared in Nigeria on 29 June 2021, when he was produced in the custody of the Department of State Services, Abuja, Nigeria. In documents filed in Nigerian court proceedings, the Nigerian government admitted its agents ‘intercepted’ and detained Mr Kanu, and brought him back to Nigeria to face trial. His detention and transfer was not the subject of extradition or any legal proceedings in Kenya.

Ever since his re-appearance in Nigeria, Mr Kanu has been detained in solitary confinement in a tiny cell at the headquarters of the Department of State Services in Abuja. He has been repeatedly denied access to medical assistance and to his legal team. Mr Kanu has requested consular assistance from the British government, but in the past 16 months, British High Commission officials have been permitted to visit him on only four occasions.

In domestic proceedings brought in Nigeria, the Nigerian Court of Appeal recently ruled that Mr Kanu was a victim of extraordinary rendition and ordered that he be discharged of all charges against him and released. The Nigerian government has appealed the Court of Appeal’s ruling and a stay of execution of the Court of Appeal’s Order.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment followed a finding by the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in July 2022, that Mr Kanu has been subject to extraordinary rendition and continuing arbitrary detention, as well as a ruling by the Federal High Court of Nigeria in October 2022 that the Nigerian government did unlawfully render Mr Kanu in violation of his human rights.

Since learning of his detention in Nigeria,  Mr Kanu’s family have asked the British government to take steps to secure his release on the grounds there was no lawful basis for bringing him to Nigeria, and his detention is arbitrary. Their legal team argues that, in order to lawfully determine what steps should be taken, if any, to assist Mr Kanu, the Foreign Secretary must first reach a concluded view on whether he has suffered a violation of his rights and freedoms guaranteed by international law. 

Further information about the case can be found here.

Tatyana Eatwell acts as junior counsel for Mr Kanu’s family, led by Charlotte Kilroy KC of Blackstone Chambers, and instructed by John Halford and Shirin Marker of Bindmans LLP.