Sophie Lucas of the Public Law Team is instructed by Russell Nicholson of Lawrence & Co Solicitors.
Sophie Lucas, led by James Stansfeld of Matrix Chambers, represents a Requested Person whose extradition is sought in respect of nine offences, including terrorism allegations, arising out of alleged threats made to the crew of a ship which rescued him and 100 other migrants from a dinghy in the Mediterranean.
The rescue was coordinated by a European military aircraft. After some of the migrants, including the Requested Person, allegedly ‘rebelled’ against their forced return to Libya, where they faced a high risk of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, the vessel changed course to Malta.
The charges levied against the Requested Person, who was a child at the time of the incident, have attracted widespread international condemnation, including from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, Amnesty International and the European Democratic Lawyers.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has publicly called on Malta to reconsider the charges, noting that many of the migrants on the vessel who arrived in Malta, including children, were dehydrated and exhibited clear signs of torture and ill-treatment.
Sophie is instructed by Russell Nicholson of Lawrence & Co Solicitors. Judgment is expected early next year.
