‘British soldiers tortured British citizen in Iraq’

This video is called Sexual abuse and torture by British troops in Iraq.

From daily News Line in Britain:

Friday, 11 October 2013

‘HOME SECRETARY ACTED ILLEGALLY’ – when she deprived Al Jedda of his British citizenship decides Supreme Court

ON WEDNESDAY, Public Interest Lawyers won an important decision when the Supreme Court brought to an end a six-year legal battle by Mr Al Jedda to have his British citizenship restored.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Home Secretary acted unlawfully when she deprived Al Jedda of his British citizenship on 14 December 2007 because she rendered him stateless.

Al Jedda was born in Iraq in 1957. He came to the United Kingdom in 1992 and claimed asylum. In June 2000 he was granted British citizenship and due to a prohibition on dual nationality in Iraqi law he automatically lost his Iraqi citizenship.

In September 2004, he travelled to Iraq with his family. On 10 October 2004, he was arrested at his sister’s house and taken to a British detention facility in Basra.

During his arrest and subsequent detention he alleges that he was seriously tortured and abused by British forces. The British authorities maintain that his detention was necessary for imperative reasons of security and allege that he was involved in terrorism.

Al Jedda vehemently denies those allegations and no criminal charges have ever been brought against him. He remained in British custody in Iraq for over three years without charge.

In July 2011 in separate proceedings, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that his three-year internment had breached his right to liberty protected by Article 5(1) of the European Convention.

On 14 December 2007, the Home Secretary signed an order depriving Al Jedda of his British citizenship and on 30 December 2007 Al Jedda was released from custody. On his release Al Jedda travelled to Turkey where he remains today.

In January 2008, PIL on behalf of Al Jedda initiated a legal challenge to the deprivation of his citizenship. They always argued the order was unlawful because it rendered Al Jedda stateless. Under s40(4) of the British Nationality Act 1981, a Secretary of State may not make a deprivation of citizenship order where satisfied that an order would render a person stateless.

The case has a long complex procedural history but in March 2012 the Court of Appeal unanimously declared that the Home Secretary’s deprivation of citizenship order should be quashed as it rendered Al Jedda stateless.

The Home Secretary appealed the judgment and was granted permission to appeal at the Supreme Court on one issue: whether, assuming at the date the deprivation order was made Al Jedda could have obtained Iraqi citizenship by application, the Home Secretary could be satisfied that it was not her order that made Al Jedda stateless but his own failure to make an application!

The Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment found that:
i. the assumption on which the Secretary of State rested her case, namely, that had Al Jedda made an application for Iraqi citizenship it would have been bound to succeed, was unsound given the findings of the court below; and
ii. even allowing the assumption, the Home Secretary’s argument that she could look to other potential causes of statelessness, like a person’s failure to apply for another citizenship, was plainly wrong and contrary to common sense.

The law requires the Secretary of State when making a deprivation of citizenship order to carry out a straightforward inquiry as to whether the person against whom she is making an order has another citizenship or not.

If the person does not have another citizenship then to deprive a person of their British citizenship will be unlawful as it will render them stateless.

Phil Shiner, a solicitor at Public Interest Lawyers, stated: ‘We are delighted with today’s ruling which quashes the order that unlawfully deprived our client of his British citizenship and clarifies the law relating to statelessness.

The appeal before the Supreme Court, which has cost the public purse dearly, should never have been brought by the Home Secretary as it was both ill-founded and fallacious.

‘Our client was unlawfully interned by the British authorities for three years without charge and then, days before his release, unlawfully stripped of his British citizenship.

‘We hope the Home Secretary will now leave Al Jedda to get on with his life as a British citizen in peace.’

Related articles

• Attempt to deprive terror suspect of British nationality ruled illegal (theguardian.com)
• Humiliating Defeat For Theresa May In Supreme Court Appeal (truelabour.wordpress.com)
• Dual Citizenship? (anexpatriate20something.wordpress.com)