News

The public law team at Duncan Lewis Solicitors is continuing to lead the challenge to the Government’s controversial plan to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda. A series of challenges by our team led to first flight, scheduled to depart on Tuesday, 14 June, being abandoned once the last intended passenger was removed from the list. An application for an injunction was lodged on 8 June by Duncan Lewis on behalf of four individual clients, the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS), Care4Calais and Detention Action. The Home Office conceded, cancelling removal directions for all four of our individual clients and a further four individual claimants were added to the legal proceedings. At a High Court hearing on 10 June, the UNHCR, intervening, expressed serious concerns about the asylum process in Rwanda. The Home Office cancelled a further 2 of our individual client’s removal directions. Swift J refused interim relief but granted permission to appeal. In his judgment he acknowledged that there was a serious case to be tried but was persuaded that it would be possible to bring back any individuals sent to Rwanda prior to the final hearing, should the policy ultimately be found to be unlawful. The Court of Appeal hearing was held on 14 June. The Home Office cancelled one of our remaining two clients’ removal directions. Singh LJ, Simler LJ and Stuart-Smith LJ, upheld the judgment of the High Court and refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. Our application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court was refused and, having exhausted domestic remedies, an application was submitted on behalf of our client to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for an interim measure under Rule 39 of the Court Rules. The ECHR granted an interim measure to prevent our client’s removal. In making this decision, the ECHR considered, amongst other things, the absence of any legally enforceable mechanism for our client’s return from Rwanda to the UK should the policy be found to be unlawful. Our client’s removal directions were cancelled and, on the basis of this initial grant, subsequent applications were sought on behalf of other individuals due to be removed on the flight. This ultimately resulted in no individuals being removed to Rwanda. Our team is now preparing for the final hearing. We continue to represent eight individual claimants, PCS, Care4Calais and Detention Action. Duncan Lewis also represents several more individuals who have been served with a notice of inadmissibility and are at risk of removal to Rwanda. Our legal team is Toufique Hossain, Lewis Kett, Sophie Lucas, Charlotte McLean, Sheroy Zaq, Manini Menon, Nicholas Hughes, and Simon Robinson. Teams from across other Duncan Lewis immigration and public law departments represent several other detainees affected by this policy. Instructed counsel: Raza Husain QC, Chris Buttler QC, Eleanor Mitchell and Katy Sheridan of Matrix Chambers, Jason Pobjoy, Rayan Fakhoury and Will Bordell, of Blackstone Chambers, and Anirudh Mathur, of Littleton Chambers.