Category Archives: Law

UK ministers’ efforts to revive Rwanda policy likely to fail, lawyers say

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Government accused of ‘magical thinking’ and ignoring facts on the ground that led to supreme court judgment

Lawyers have said that UK ministers’ latest plans to get their high-profile Rwanda policy off the ground are unlikely to overcome the legal obstacles that defeated them in the supreme court on Wednesday.

After the five judges unanimously rejected the government’s plans to deport people seeking asylum in the UK to the east African country, Rishi Sunak said that he would ensure the flights could go ahead by legislating that Rwanda was safe.

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Cleverly ‘determined’ to get removal flight to Rwanda before general election

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Home secretary says legally binding treaty will be drafted ‘within days’ despite policy being ruled unlawful

Ministers are “absolutely determined” to get a removal flight to Rwanda off before the next election, and will finish drafting a legally binding treaty with the country “within days”, the home secretary, James Cleverly, has said, after the policy was ruled unlawful.

Cleverly, who was made home secretary in the reshuffle earlier this week, said the controversial policy was already having “a deterrent effect” on people smugglers.

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Muscogee Nation sues Tulsa, Oklahoma, for ticketing drivers within reservation

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Tribe says city has been breaking federal law by continuing to ticket Native Americans within sovereign boundaries

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, arguing that police are continuing to ticket Native American drivers within the tribe’s reservation boundaries, despite a recent federal appeals court ruling they lacked jurisdiction to do so.

The tribe filed the lawsuit in federal court in Tulsa against the city; the mayor, GT Bynum; the chief of police, Wendell Franklin; and the city attorney, Jack Blair.

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Rishi Sunak ‘working on new Rwanda treaty’ after deportation policy ruled unlawful – UK politics live

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Prime minister says he is prepared to ‘revisit legal frameworks’ to stop the boats as supreme court says policy is unlawful

Reed says the court has had to decide whether the Rwanda policy breaches the non-refoulement rule.

The policy is in the Home Office’s immigration rules, he says.

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French court issues arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad for complicity in war crimes

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Three others also subject to warrants over use of sarin gas in two attacks in Syria in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people

A French court has issued an international arrest warrant for the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for complicity in war crimes against humanity linked to chemical weapon attacks on civilians.

Three others – including Assad’s brother Maher, head of an elite army unit – are also subject to warrants over the use of banned sarin gas in two attacks in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children.

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Rishi Sunak faces backlash from rightwing Tory MPs over Rwanda ruling

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At least six MPs to submit letter of no confidence, says Andrea Jenkyns, who has already submitted her own

Rishi Sunak is facing a fresh backlash from rightwing Conservative MPs who are pushing for emergency legislation to overrule the supreme court’s decision on the UK government’s Rwanda deportation plan.

At least six MPs will submit letters of no confidence in the prime minister, according to Andrea Jenkyns, a rebel backbencher who has already submitted her own.

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Sunak pins hopes on a new Rwanda asylum pact after supreme court defeat

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Whitehall sources say it could take more than a year for any treaty to be passed, with next election looming

Rishi Sunak is attempting to finalise a new pact with Rwanda after a central plank of the British government’s immigration plans was ripped up by the supreme court.

A treaty, which would have to be ratified by the UK parliament, was being drawn up with the government in Kigali, the prime minister said.

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Win or lose, supreme court decision on Rwanda policy will be pivotal for Tories

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A victory for the immigration and asylum policy on Wednesday will come with headaches, but a defeat could split the Conservative party

Wednesday marks a potentially pivotal moment in the government’s fortunes when the supreme court rules whether its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful.

The decision could have significant implications not just for immigration and asylum policy, but also for the future direction of Rishi Sunak’s government, and the Conservative party more widely. Here is what could follow from a government win or loss.

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UK government challenged over ICC inquiry into Israel’s conduct

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Tories reject international criminal court’s right to investigate war with Hamas but Labour wants an inquiry into potential war crimes

The UK government is being challenged over whether it will join Labour in supporting an international criminal court inquiry into potential war crimes committed by Israel, with the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, calling for all parties to uphold international law.

The ICC prosecutor, Gen Karim Khan, has insisted he has jurisdiction, but under the premiership of Boris Johnson the government said the court had no legal right to interfere.

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Labour motion to ban Truss-style budget meltdowns puts pressure on Tory MPs

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Party loyalty would force Conservatives to vote against plan for fiscal responsibility

Read more: ‘I challenge Rishi Sunak: vote with Labour to stop a Truss-style disaster happening again,’ writes Rachel Reeves

Labour will force a Commons vote this week aimed at creating new legal safeguards against fiscal disasters such as Liz Truss’s catastrophic mini-budget, which sent the financial markets into meltdown and drove up mortgage rates.

The party’s plan for a “fiscal lock” to protect personal, family and the national finances from reckless politicians will be contained in an amendment to the king’s speech that will be voted on by MPs on Tuesday. The manoeuvre will present Conservative backbenchers with a dilemma over whether to back a Labour amendment, or vote against what is a plan designed to embed fiscal responsibility into the budgetary process, and protect it from wild or accidental political misjudgments.

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Psychology body says costs ruling ‘unfair’ in appeal on use of unregulated experts in England and Wales

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Association of Clinical Psychologists must pay £20,000 after intervening in family justice case where it mounted ‘critique of expert’

A professional body ordered to pay costs of £20,000 by the president of the family division after intervening in an appeal regarding the qualifications of a court-appointed expert has said the ruling was “unfair” and could have a “chilling effect”.

The Association of Clinical Psychologists UK (ACP-UK) said it had acted in good faith on a matter of “public protection”, after being criticised for conducting itself in a “wholly exceptional manner” during an appeal before the most senior family judge in England and Wales.

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Myanmar’s military commanders responsible for rape and torture – war crimes report

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Security Force Monitor finds 64% of senior army officers led units allegedly committing killings, rapes, torture and disappearances

New research into alleged war crimes in Myanmar has concluded that the majority of senior commanders in the Myanmar military, many of whom hold powerful political positions in the country, were responsible for crimes including rape, torture, killings and forced disappearances carried out by units under their command between 2011 and 2023.

The research, by the Security Force Monitor (SFM), a project run by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, states that 64% – 51 of 79 – of all Myanmar’s senior military commanders are responsible for war crimes. It claims that the most serious perpetrator of human rights violations is Gen Mya Tun Oo, Myanmar’s deputy prime minister, former defence minister and a member of the ruling military council.

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Rishi Sunak’s king’s speech to include hardline criminal justice measures

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PM to announce tougher sentences for rapists and killers ahead of upcoming general election

Rishi Sunak’s first king’s speech will include a series of hardline criminal justice measures promising tougher sentences for rapists and killers in the run-up to a general election.

With crime and punishment a major point of contention with Keir Starmer’s Labour, the prime minister will confirm the introduction of a new sentencing bill under which murderers whose crimes involved sadistic or sexual conduct will face spending the rest of their lives in jail.

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Senior lawyers criticise handling of case of Sikh activist held in India

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Peers express fears that Jagtar Singh Johal will not receive ‘due process’ in India amid torture claims

Assurances by a UK minister that a British man imprisoned in India will receive a fair trial fly in the face of evidence that he has been tortured and arbitrarily detained, three lawyers who held senior public roles have warned.

To coincide with the sixth anniversary of Jagtar Singh Johal’s detention, Ken MacDonald KC, Elish Angiolini KC and Jim Wallace KC have written to the UK Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad asking him to retract his recent comments saying that the British citizen would receive “due process” in India.

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Trump sons deny knowing of financial statements at heart of $250m fraud trial

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Donald Jr says he ‘relied upon accountants’ for financial statements while Eric says he ‘never had anything to do’ with them

Trump’s eldest sons claimed on Thursday that they had no knowledge of the financial statements at the heart of the family’s $250m fraud trial.

Eric and his older brother Donald Trump Jr claimed in court that they had relied on accountants and others to make sure their financial records were correct.

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Iranian mother jailed for 13 years after denouncing death of son shot at protest

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Mahsa Yazdani convicted of blasphemy and ‘insulting supreme leader’ as Iran regime targets families of those killed in protests

A mother in Iran, whose son was reportedly killed after being shot repeatedly at close range by security forces, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by an Iranian court after she demanded justice for her child on social media.

Mahsa Yazdani, whose 20-year-old son Mohammad Javad Zahedi was killed at an anti-regime protest in September 2022, was convicted on charges of blasphemy, incitement, insulting the supreme leader, and spreading anti-regime propaganda, according to human rights groups and family members. They say she will serve the first five years with no chance of parole.

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Trump Jr distances himself from documents at center of fraud trial: ‘I don’t recall’

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Donald Trump’s eldest son testifies in New York civil trial, claiming repeatedly: ‘I don’t recall’

Donald Trump Jr took the stand in the ongoing fraud trial against his father and the family business on Wednesday and tried to distance himself from the financial statements at the center of the case.

Trump’s eldest son, 45, is the first family member to testify in the civil trial brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. His younger brother Eric is expected to testify on Thursday, with Trump and his daughter Ivanka expected in court next week.

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‘Expect the unexpected’: Trump fraud trial becomes family affair

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Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka scheduled to give evidence with father this week in case against Trump Organization

Donald Trump’s fraud trial becomes a family affair this week as three of his children, and the former president himself, prepare to be called to the witness stand in New York.

Trump’s appearances in court so far have been controversial, to say the least. The former president has railed against the prosecution, calling it a “witch-hunt”, and has been threatened with jail for attacking one of the court’s clerks on social media.

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King Charles asked for ‘unequivocal apology’ by Kenya’s rights commission

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King urged to offer apology while in Kenya for UK’s ‘brutal and inhuman treatment’ during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has called on King Charles to offer an “unequivocal public apology” for colonial abuses, during his visit to the country this week.

“We call upon the king, on behalf of the British government, to issue an unconditional and unequivocal public apology (as opposed to the very cautious, self-preserving and protective statements of regrets) for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens,” the KHRC said.

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Why king’s speech could be pivotal policy moment for Sunak’s survival

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Constrained on multiple fronts by finances and resistance from both wings of his party, the PM still has a few vote-winning options

Exhausted by scandals, deflated by byelection defeats and uninspired by their leader at Conservative party conference, many of Rishi Sunak’s MPs are not looking forward to the next year in politics. “It’s hard to muster the enthusiasm to come out fighting given everything that has happened,” said one Tory adviser.

But Sunak appears still to be energised by the prospect of governing for at least another 12 months – and has explicitly said he wants to get things done in the next year. “What can a country achieve in 52 weeks? Watch this space,” his new promotional video said this week.

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