Dr Murphy part of 'all star' legal team winning major human rights abuse case

Director of Graduate Research Studies, Dr Cian Murphy, has contributed to the Kadi case in the EU Court of Justice’s Grand Chamber. Dr Murphy was a consultant in the legal team that has been described as ‘all-star’, with the most recent, and potentially final, court judgment finding in favour of Kadi.

Mr Yassin Abdullah Kadi’s long litigation battle began shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2011, when he was added to a list of individuals under suspicion by the UN of funding terrorism. Without any due process afforded to Kadi, his assets were frozen and he was subject to a travel ban, with the sanctions operational in Europe through EU law.

Despite the UN lifting sanctions against Kadi late last year, following more than a decade of human rights violations, the European litigation continued as EU institutions and Member States, including the UK, tried to justify their actions. This latest litigation was taken by the EU and Member States, who sought deference from the Court for UN and EU counter-terrorism activities, and Kadi who claimed that due process is essential in all government action, even in counter-terrorism. The Court upheld its earlier ruling in Kadi’s favour and dismissed the appeal by EU institutions and Member States.

Dr Murphy welcomed the judgment made in Kadi’s favour: ‘The decision demonstrates the Court’s commitment to the rule of law, even as the question of secret evidence before it becomes more pressing and more complex’.

‘The Kadi litigation has now helped to shape international law issues about the relationship between the UN and the EU, as well as questions about the use of secret evidence in national security cases. We are now teaching the Kadi litigation as part of the School’s undergraduate European law course and it is also a key case on several courses on our LLM in European Law’.

Dr Murphy is the author of EU Counter-Terrorism Lawand is currently leading a team of researchers at King’s investigating certain European counter-terrorism measures. Kadi’s legal team was led by solicitors at Carter-Ruck and barristers at Brick Court Chambers. Other members of the team include Maya Lester of Brick Court Chambers, a guest lecturer on the King’s LLM programme, and Piet Eeckhout of Matrix Chambers, former Director of the Centre of European Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law.

Read more about the Kadi case