Hilal Al-Jedda, appeal by
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 18 July 2014 |
| Case Outcome | Preliminary Judgment |
| Court | Special Immigration Appeals Commission |
| Appellant | Hilal Al-Jedda |
| Subject Matter | Deprivation of citizenship |
Appeal No: SC/66/2008
Hearing Dates: 2nd – 4th and 7th July 2014
Date of Judgment: 18th July 2014
SPECIAL IMMIGRATION APPEALS COMMISSION
Before:
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE FLAUX
UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE WARR
SIR STEWART ELDON
Hilal Abdul Razzaq Ali AL-JEDDA APPELLANT
and
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
RESPONDENT
For the Appellant: Mr Tom Hickman and Ms Samantha Knights
Instructed by: Public Interest Lawyers
For the Respondent: Mr Jonathan Swift QC, Ms Karen Steyn QC
and Mr Rupert Jones
Instructed by: The Treasury Solicitor
JUDGMENT
Page 1
The Honourable Mr Justice Flaux:
Introduction
1. On 1 November 2013, the Respondent (referred to hereafter as “the
Secretary of State” made an order in exercise of the power under section
40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 as amended (“the 1981 Act”)
depriving the appellant (referred to hereafter as “Mr Al-Jedda”) of his
British citizenship. Mr Al-Jedda appeals against that order to the
Commission pursuant to section 2B of the Special Immigration Appeals
Commission Act 1997 (“the 1997 Act”).
2. By Order of Irwin J dated 13 February 2014, the Commission ordered the
determination of the following preliminary issues:
(1) Did the deprivation order made by the Secretary of State on 1
November 2013 render Mr Al-Jedda stateless contrary to section 40(4)
of the 1981 Act (including the sub-issues of issue estoppel and abuse
of process which are referred to in the Scott Schedule and the Grounds
of Appeal)?
(2) Is the Secretary of State required to provide a minimum level of
disclosure and information about the case against Mr Al-Jedda
pursuant to the requirements of the European Convention on Human
Rights and/or European Union law?
(3) Was the deprivation of citizenship unfair by failing to provide Mr Al-
Jedda with an adequate opportunity to make representations to the
Secretary of State before it was made?
3. This is the judgment of the Commission following the hearing of those
preliminary issues.
Background facts
4. Mr Al-Jedda was born in Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1957. His parents had been born
in Iraq, and they were both Iraqi nationals at the time of his birth. He
married his first wife in 1990 and came to this country in 1992 as a refugee
from the regime of Saddam Hussein, and claimed asylum here. He was
accorded refugee status in 1994, and given leave to remain in the UK for
four years. In 1998, he, his wife and four children were granted indefinite
leave to remain here, and shortly afterwards he applied for British
nationality. He was granted British nationality on 12 June 2000.
5. In 2001, he and his wife divorced. She lives in London and has remarried.
In 2002, he married his second wife, a Syrian national. They divorced in
2008. They had a son who lived in Syria until recently but now lives with
his father in Turkey. In 2002, he married his current, third wife, initially
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polygamously. She is a Jordanian national. They have four children, the
youngest born in February this year. Mr Al-Jedda, his third wife and those
four children live together in Istanbul, Turkey. At least at the time that
they produced witness statements in mid-June 2014, two of his adult
children by his first wife lived in London.
6. In September 2004, Mr Al-Jedda travelled from the United Kingdom to
Iraq where he was detained by British forces on grounds of suspected
involvement in terrorism. On 30 December 2007, Mr Al-Jedda was
released from detention without charge. He travelled to Kirkuk and then in
January 2008 he went to Turkey where he was joined by his third wife and
some of his children. The status of the identity card and passport which he
used to travel within Iraq and to Turkey thereafter are in issue in these
proceedings (subject to questions of issue estoppel and abuse of process
raised by Mr Al-Jedda which we address in detail later in this judgment).
7. Prior to Mr Al-Jedda’s release from detention, the Secretary of State
considered whether to deprive Mr Al-Jedda of his British nationality under
section 40(2) of the 1981 Act. On 12 November 2007, she wrote to Mr Al-
Jedda informing him that she was minded to make such an order, as well
as an order excluding him from the UK. She summarised the involvement
in terrorism of which he was suspected. He was invited to make such
representations as he chose on the orders she was minded to make. On 20
November 2007, his solicitors wrote to the Secretary of State saying he
wished to challenge the proposed orders, but on 12 December 2007, the
Secretary of State informed Mr Al-Jedda that she had decided to make an
order depriving him of his British citizenship. Mr Al-Jedda appealed to the
Commission.
The first SIAC proceedings
8. In the proceedings before the Commission, Mr Al-Jedda relied upon a
number of grounds of appeal, including challenging that he had been
involved in terrorist activity and claiming that the decision to deprive him
of his citizenship was contrary to section 40(4) of the Act because it had
rendered him stateless. By a Consent Order dated 8 February 2008,
Mitting J ordered the statelessness issue to be heard as a preliminary issue.
9. One of the sub-issues raised by that preliminary issue was whether Mr Al-
Jedda lost his Iraqi nationality automatically when he was granted British
citizenship on 12 June 2000 by virtue of the operation of Article 11 of the
Iraqi Nationality Law of 1963 (“the 1963 Law”) which provided (in an
unofficial translation transmitted to the UNHCR in 1996):
“1. Every Iraqi national who has acquired a foreign nationality
in a foreign country by his own choice shall lose his Iraqi
nationality.
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