International Law: Recent Work

In late 2011 Advocate-General Mengozzi of the European Court of Justice delivered a landmark opinion in Pye Phyo Tay Za’s appeal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, recommending that the Court should set aside the earlier judgment of the General Court in Luxembourg and annul the contested freezing regulation insofar as it relates to Mr Tay Za.

The UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom has ruled in favour of the news channel Al Jazeera English following a complaint about its series on the 'Palestine Papers', the largest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ofcom dismissed every element of the complaint brought by Dr Saeb Erakat on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg has today delivered a landmark decision annulling a European Regulation freezing the assets of Mr Kadi.

The 3 judges of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) today ruled that the contested freezing regulation must be annulled insofar as it relates to Mr Kadi.

In ordering the annulment of the regulation the General Court ruled that the regulation

1. was adopted in breach of Mr Kadi’s rights of defence and
2. in breach of Mr Kadi’s rights to effective judicial review and
3. constitutes an unjustified restriction of Mr Kadi’s right to property.

Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi has succeeded in having dismissed in their entirety the civil claims brought against him in the United States on behalf of the families of the 9/11 victims. 
District Judge Daniels so ordered on 13 September 2010 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr Kadi is among numerous individuals, companies and governments in the Muslim world named as defendants in multiple civil proceedings brought in the US District Courts by the families of those killed in the 9/11 attacks. It had been alleged that the named defendants were associated with Al-Qaeda and were therefore responsible, directly or indirectly, for the events of 9/11. The proceedings have been generally referred to as the “three billion dollar claim”, reflecting the sum that the Plaintiffs’ attorneys seek in damages.

However, the Court ruled that the claim against Mr Kadi must be dismissed on the ground that the allegations made in the complaint were insufficient to state a claim that was even plausible on its face.  The Court further ruled that it lacked any personal jurisdiction over Mr Kadi.

Mr Kadi’s successful defence of the civil proceedings in the US District Courts was conducted by David Geneson (of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, Washington DC) instructed by the Carter-Ruck team comprising Guy Martin, Cameron Doley and Maitre Saad Djebbar.

Carter-Ruck co-sponsored BIICL's annual conference on 11 June 2010, together with Shell International B.V.

A programme of panel sessions on topics ranging from protecting energy investments in a changing legal regime, private law issues surrounding cross border energy supply and the human rights of indigenous peoples, took place throughout the day.
 
Following a keynote speech by Professor Julia King, Vice-Chancellor of Aston University and member of the UK Committee on Climate Change, speakers representing a range of international organisations held panel sessions led by representatives of Cambridge University, Shell International, the international chamber of commerce, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and BIICL.
 
Click here to see the full programme.

The firm has been retained by the highly-respected international charity Islamic Relief Worldwide on a range of matters. Foreign Secretary David Milliband recently described Islamic Relief as a shining example of an organisation that positively combines "the values that bind Britain together as a liberal democracy with their particular religious identity."

Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi, a Saudi Arabian businessman and philanthropist, has issued proceedings against various members of the Bush administration relating to a series of unconstitutional actions taken against him.

Cameron Doley and Guy Martin are pursuing the cases of a number of clients wrongfully listed as Special Designated Global Terrorists with the United Nations Sanctions Committee and the Governments of the US and UK.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has delivered a landmark appeal judgment in favour of Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi, a Saudi Arabian businessman and philanthropist whose assets were frozen in the aftermath of the 9/11 atrocities.
 
The court ruled that the EU freezing regulation breached Mr Kadi's fundamental human rights and must be annulled, which has far-reaching implications for European and international law.
 
The Carter-Ruck team representing Mr Kadi includes Partner Guy Martin and Managing Partner Cameron Doley, working with London based consultant Maitre Saad Djebbar.
 
They instructed a team of advocates comprising the pre-eminent public international lawyer Ian Brownlie CBE, QC (Chairman of the International Law Commission of the United Nations) and Pushpinder Saini QC, both of Blackstone Chambers, London, together with leading European law experts David Anderson QC of Brick Court Chambers, London, and Piet Eekhout, Professor of European Law at King's College, London.
 

Guy Martin is challenging the imposition of EU financial and travel sanctions upon a Myanmar (Burma) national. Proceedings have been issued in the European Court of First Instance.

The firm is pursuing the cases of a number of clients who have wrongly been made the subject of Interpol detention notices.

The claims brought on behalf of the families of the 9/11 victims against the leading Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi have been dismissed in the US District Court.
 
Sheikh Yusuf was among hundreds of individuals, companies and governments in the Muslim world named in proceedings brought in the Southern District of New York by attorneys working for the families of those killed in the 9/11 atrocities. However, the documentation filed contained nothing to link Sheikh Yusuf with Al Qaeda and therefore his legal team filed a Motion to Dismiss the claims against him in their entirety. Confronted with this, the Plaintiffs withdrew the claims voluntarily.
 
Sheikh Yusuf’s successful defence of the proceedings in the United States was conducted by a team comprising of Carter-Ruck Managing Partner Cameron Doley and Consultant Maitre Saad Djebbar, together with Amy Rothstein of Doar Rieck Kaley & Mack in New York.

The firm has been representing several clients, including Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), in extensive dealings with US Department of Homeland Security regarding its operation of 'no-fly' lists.

Bow Street Magistrates Court has declined to act on a further extradition request from Russia for the extradition of Boris Berezovsky, the Russian politician and businessman. Senior District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that since Mr Berezovsky had the benefit of political asylum, under the provisions of the Geneva Convention he could not be returned to Russia. Therefore, a lengthy process involving great expense to the British taxpayer would be futile.

Saudi client Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi has won a landmark ruling in the Swiss courts clearing him of any link with 9/11 attacks.

Prominent Russian politician and businessman Boris Berezovsky has successfully resisted extradition proceedings instigated by the Russian Government. Mr Berezovsky maintained that the charges against him, alleging a £8 million fraud, were concocted as a means to punish him for his outspoken opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's Security Services. The Home Office accepted that Mr Berezovsky should be granted political asylum and Bow Street Magistrates Court District Judge Workman accepted that the extradition proceedings should be discharged.

Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi, the prominent Saudi businessman, has launched administrative proceedings in Washington DC before the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a department of the US Treasury, and made submissions to the United Nations, to overturn orders freezing his assets made in the aftermath of 11 September atrocities.