17/09/2024
Our client wins 7-year fight for justice and secured record damages for false imprisonment, breach of EU law rights, breach of Article 3 ECHR, and personal injury.
IA was residing in the UK lawfully as the spouse of a EU citizen when the Home Office began its series of unlawful acts that persisted for years. Basic repeated errors resulted in IA being deprived of the right to work; being detained; attempts to remove him from the UK; his detention; and treatment in detention that caused him to develop PTSD and that reached a level of severity that breached Article 3 ECHR.
IA was detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre during the period that was the subject of the BBC Panorama programme re abuse there, and he also gave evidence to the Brook House Inquiry.
The judgment handed down by the High Court today gives some measure of closure to IA. However, no amount of monetary compensation can recover the lost years when his life was on hold, the impact on his health, and the pain and suffering he has endured.
It is hoped that the detailed findings in the judgment as to the repeated failings on the part of the Home Office, and the significant exemplary damages awarded to punish the Home Office’s conduct will result in lessons being learned and this sort of behaviour not being repeated with others.
Mr Zainul Jafferji was instructed by IA when he was in detention and facing removal from the UK in May 2017. He has represented IA since that date, assisting him to successfully resist removal, secure release from detention, establish his right of residence in the UK, and secure damages for the egregious breach of his rights by the Home Office over a number of years.
Mr Sheraaz Hingora assisted Mr Jafferji as his paralegal in 2017-2018, and was instructed by IA as junior counsel to Mr Jafferji for his final trial at the High Court in June 2024. Both counsel were instructed by Asim Suleman of Lawfare Solicitors.
