A British high court has dismissed a case filed by Kingsley
Kanu, brother of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB), challenging the UK ministers’ handling of the separatist
leader’s case.
UK Guardian reports that Kingsley had claimed that three
foreign secretaries – Liz Truss, Dominic Raab, and James Cleverly – had acted
unlawfully by failing to reach a view on whether his brother had been subjected
to extraordinary rendition.
He claimed that efforts to gain the release of the IPOB
leader, who has been in detention since June 2021, in “appalling conditions,
and without access to medical treatment for a heart disease”, had been
“frustrated by the UK’s refusal to take a stand”, despite rulings by the UN and
a Nigerian court.
Delivering judgment in the case on Thursday, Jonathan Swift,
presiding judge, held that the minister had the right to determine what was in
the UK’s diplomatic interests.
“While the secretary
of state has declined the claimant’s request to state an ‘unequivocal view’
either privately or publicly, this does no more than reflect the secretary of
state’s opinion on how best to conduct his affairs with the Nigerian
authorities, to secure the greatest chance of providing practical assistance to
Mr Kanu,” the judge held.
However, Swift added that the British government’s approach
will also now be informed by a ruling given by Nigeria’s court of appeal on
October 13, which found that Kanu had been unlawfully abducted and rendered to
Nigeria.
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