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| Nicholas Blake QC | |
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|  EB (Ethiopia) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 809 | |
| Whether loss of nationality could amount to persecution on racial grounds. |
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| House of Lords Judgment in Hurst, Jordan and McCaughey | |
| Judgment has been given in these three important cases concerned with the scope of inquests and related maters with respect to those who died before 2nd October 2000. |
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| Huang v SSHD; Kashmiri v SSHD [2007] UKHL 11 | |
| The HL unanimously rejected the SSHD’s submissions in these conjoined appeals . |
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| SSHD v K (FC); Fornah (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2006) | |
| Rabinder Singh QC and Nicholas Blake QC were involved in this case concerning the law relating to social group persecution within the meaning of the Refugee Convention. |
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| J v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2006) | |
| Nicholas Blake QC represented 'J', an Iranian homosexual. The Court of Appeal held that a person could not be refused asylum on the basis that he could avoid otherwise persecutory conduct by modifying his behaviour. |
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| Januzi v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Hamid v Same; Gaafar v Same; Mohammed v Same (2006) | |
| Concerned whether a person could reasonably be expected to avail himself of the internal flight alternative, where this was the means by which persecution could be avoided following deportation. |
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| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Limbuela (2005) | |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Adam;
R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Limbuela;
R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Tesema |
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| R (on the application of Robertson) v Wakefield (2001) | |
| The case addressed important questions regarding the scope of the right to vote, the rights of privacy under the European Convention and the scope of the Data Protection Directive. Nicholas Blake QC and Jonathan Marks appeared on behalf of the Applicant. Rhodri Thompson QC appeared on behalf of the Secretary of State. |
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| R (A) v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (2004) | |
| The House of Lords confirmed that the reach of community law in outlawing discrimination against transsexuals in the field of employment law was wider than the reach of human rights law that only prohibited such treatment after the date of the Strasbourg decision in Goodwin. Nicholas Blake QC, Rabinder Singh QC, Sir David Bean QC and Mathew Purchase appeared in this case. |
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| R (Gurung) v MoD and R (Purja) v MoD (2003) | |
| In these two cases, the differential treatment afforded to Gurkha soldiers in the British Army were examined in respect of eligibility for a POW ex gratia payment and same conditions of service and pension rights. The first case has resulted in payment of the disputed payment to Gurkha POWs and the second has led to a fundamental review of conditions of service. Nicholas Blake QC and Aileen McColgan appeared in both cases. Rabinder Singh QC and Kate Cook appeared in R (Purja) v MOD. |
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| Secretary for Security v Prabakar (2004) | |
| This case concerned the expulsion of a Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seeker from Hong Kong SAR to Sri Lanka where he had been tortured. Although Hong Kong is not a party to the Refugee Convention, the case established that similar procedural standards of careful scrutiny of a protection claim apply in Hong Kong as a result of adherence to the Torture Convention. If a protection claim is rejected, the Government must give sufficient reasons to explain why. Nicholas Blake QC appeared for the asylum seeker. |
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| Singh v Entry Clearance Officer New Delhi (2004) | |
| In this decision the Court of Appeal concluded that there was family life engaged between a UK resident couple and a child transferred to their care under procedures that did not meet international rules for adoption. As the respondent was unwilling to justify his particular interference with family life, the refusal of entry clearance was held to be a breach of Article 8 ECHR. The decision has important implications for South Asian de facto family cases. Nicholas Blake QC appeared for the family. |
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| R (Razgar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2004) | |
| In this case the House of Lords upheld the Court of Appeal approach to certification of human rights claims as manifestly unfounded. The majority concluded that no such certificate could be issued where there were credible claims that an asylum seeker's mental health would be severely prejudiced by return to Germany under the Dublin Convention and Article 8 HRA was engaged. Nicholas Blake QC and Raza Husain appeared for the claimant. |
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| R (Ullah) v Special Adjudicator (2004) | |
| The House of Lords considered whether any article of the ECHR - other than Article 3 - can be engaged in relation to deporting an individual when it can be anticipated that his treatment in the receiving state will be in breach of Convention requirements, but without being in breach of Article 3. Nicholas Blake QC represented Ullah. Rabinder Singh QC and Raza Husain acted on behalf of Liberty and Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. |
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| Lambert Watson v The Queen (2004) | |
| A 9 judge Board of the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death penalty for murder was inhuman punishment contrary to Jamaica's constitution and international human rights standards. The present existing law clause did not apply to immunise this punishment from judicial amendment to ensure conformity with these standards. Henceforth all cases of capital murder in Jamaica required judicial sentencing hearings. Nicholas Blake QC and Julian Knowles appeared for Mr Watson. |
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| R (Abbasi) v Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs (2002) | |
| This landmark decision of the Court of Appeal established that judicial review could issue to quash a refusal of the Foreign Office to afford assistance to a British national detained abroad in violation of his human rights, although the British Government was not responsible for the detention. This was the case where the regime at Guantanamo Bay was first described as a legal black hole. Nicholas Blake QC and Philippe Sands QC appeared for Mr Abbasi. |
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| R (Farrakhan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2002) | |
| In this early decision on the Scope of the Human Rights Act the Court of Appeal accepted that exclusion orders made on the grounds of offensive speech had to be justified and meet the test of pressing social need under Article 10 of the ECHR. Nicholas Blake QC, Matthew Ryder and Raza Husain appeared in this case. |
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