Belhaj v Straw
Claims against British officials for complicity in the unlawful rendition and torture of a Libyan dissident were not barred by state immunity or the foreign act of state doctrine.
Facts
Mr Belhaj, a Libyan opponent of the Gaddafi regime, and his wife were detained in Asia, and claimed that they were unlawfully rendered to Libya by United States agents, with the assistance of British officials, including the then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, where Mr Belhaj was detained and tortured. They sued Mr Straw and others in England. The defendants argued that the claims were barred by state immunity, because they would require the court to decide on the lawfulness of the acts of foreign states, and by the foreign act of state doctrine.
Legal principle
The Supreme Court held that the claims could proceed. The court held that state immunity did not apply, because the claims were not brought against the foreign states, and their interests would not be affected in the relevant sense by a judgment against the British defendants. The foreign act of state doctrine did not bar the claims, because, as Lord Mance and Lord Neuberger explained in different ways, the doctrine does not apply to allegations of torture, unlawful detention and rendition, which are contrary to fundamental principles of English public policy. The government later apologised to Mr Belhaj and his wife and settled the claims.
Related cases on jurisdiction and immunities
- Al-Adsani v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 11
- Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v Belgium) (2002) ICJ Reports 3
- Attorney General of Israel v Eichmann (1962) 36 ILR 277
- Benkharbouche v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2017] UKSC 62, [2019] AC 777
- I Congreso del Partido [1983] 1 AC 244
- Jones v Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [2006] UKHL 26, [2007] 1 AC 270
- Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v Italy: Greece intervening) (2012) ICJ Reports 99
- R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex p Pinochet Ugarte (No 2) [2000] 1 AC 119
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