Abdel Hakim Belhaj wins right to sue UK government over his kidnap

Source: The Guardian

Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 30 October 2014 14.00 GMT

A Libyan politician who was abducted in a joint MI6-CIA operation has welcomed an appeal court ruling that allows him to sue the UK government for his rendition.

In 2004 Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his Moroccan wife, Fatima Bouchar, were secretly flown to Tripoli, where Muammar Gaddafi’s security forces tortured him, and, it is alleged, British intelligence officers took part in his interrogation.

Speaking to the Guardian from Libya, Belhaj, 48, said: “I always had faith in the British justice system. The right decision has been made. I feel I am getting closer to realising justice in my case.”

The court of appeal ruled on Thursday that the case could go ahead despite government attempts to resist it on grounds of the “act of state doctrine”, arguing that the courts could not inquire into what happened because it involved a foreign state. The Foreign Office is considering whether to appeal.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/30/abdel-hakim-belhaj-court-kidnap-mi6-cia-torture