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| Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs |
The Harry Dunn case has moved forward one step. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office rejected the family's claims of misue or abuse of power, as well as their request that the FCO withdraw its advise to the police regarding the American driver's diplomatic immunity.
From the BBC yesterday:
In the letter, the FCO said it would "seek costs" for any judicial review brought and argues the family has not found "any reasonably arguable ground of legal challenge".
It said the allegation that the foreign secretary had "misused and/or abused his power" was "entirely without foundation".
The family's lawyer/spokesman, normally so voluble, has so far maintained a near-total Twitter silence on this setback.
There are further details of the FCO's letter from the Press Association:
It is understood a legal claim issued by Harry’s family on October 25 was met with strong resistance from the FCO – who said any judicial review would be “opposed” and “defended”.
The 19-year-old’s parents had requested the FCO “withdraw the advice” provided to Northamptonshire Police surrounding the granting of diplomatic immunity to the US suspect in the case Anne Sacoolas.
The family’s lawyers also offered an alternative request of “paying substantive damages” for breaching the European Convention of Human Rights.
-- snip --
The claim against the FCO issued on behalf of Mr Dunn’s parents – Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn – alleged the granting of diplomatic immunity to Mrs Sacoolas was “wrong in law”.
-- snip --
In the letter, the FCO wrote: “It is not accepted that the proposed claim for judicial review articulated on your clients’ behalf in your letter, dated October 25, identifies any reasonably arguable ground of legal challenge.
“It is not therefore accepted that you have identified any arguable basis on which to suggest that the FCO ought now either ‘to withdraw the advice provided to the police’, or to pay ‘substantive damages for the breach of Articles 2 and 6, ECHR’.
“The unparticularised allegation that the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (SSFCA) has misused and/or abused his power and/or has committed misfeasance in public office is entirely without foundation.”
The response continued: “As to the alternative ground of challenge based on Articles 2 and 6 ECHR, it is not accepted that you have identified any basis under the ECHR to criticise the SSFCA’s actions.
“The SSFCA therefore declines to take the action you have invited him to take on behalf of your clients, and would oppose any application for permission to bring a claim for judicial review.
“We therefore invite you not to pursue the proposed claim. In the event that the claim is issued, it will be defended, the application for permission will be opposed, and the Secretary of State will seek his costs for doing so.”
So the FCO is willing to be the bad guy in this touchy case, defending the legality of its ruling on diplomatic immunity for the driver. Not a popular position, I don't suppose, but the facts and the law on immunity are clear.
From this point on, the family's lawyer/spokesman might as well concentrate all his bad advise on pursuing his Plan B, that promised million-dollar payday in a U.S. court (“In the U.S. you can sue for millions of dollars if someone spills some hot coffee on your hand at McDonalds”). Of course, assuming he finds a U.S. judge willing to assert jurisdiction over traffic accidents in the UK, he'll then be fighting an insurance agency, and those people care not at all for public opinion and will make the FCO seem like a toothless bulldog in comparison.
18 comments:
TSB: This pretty well sums up the global war on terror. gwb
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/footage-shows-american-isis-member-stranded-turkish-greek-border-no-mans-land
I rather like that caught-between-two-countries solution. He'll tire out quickly, unlike in GITMO where they can spend decades without much discomfort.
TSB: A judge has ruled that Hoda Muthana, the American-born college student who joined ISIS, and whom Trump said should not be allowed back in the USA, is not a citizen. ... Boy that took a long time! (I heard today there are 300,000 Chinese citizens students schooling in the US. Nobody is saying they are American citizens.)
So why is this ruling a surprise?) I thought you explained that really well a long time ago. gwb
The poor ISIS Bride will not be coming back to Alabama, it seems. My thought is she ought to give up on U.S. citizenship and become, formally, a stateless person with UN-issued papers. Then she could probably get a visa to visit the U.S.
TSB: FM explains the key to what happened in Bolivia: THE VITAL *KEY HIDDEN DETAIL OF RECENT EVENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA EXPLAINED...and why it didn't happen in Venezuela. Tulsi isn't even trying to become President. She's saving her money and will be available when all the Dems except the Rich ones fall by the wayside. gwb
https://youtu.be/I-f8T1zOUnA
I'm not so sure that the difference between being deposed like Evo or staying in power like Maduro comes down to going to the SOTA. Practically everybody over the rank of corporal in all South and Central American armies has gone there, so that could prove or disprove anything.
Evo tried to stay in power via a fourth election, even when the public rejected amending the constitution to allow that (he was no FDR, apparently). But he respected the legitimacy of democracy and elections, so when that last election was called on account of voter fraud, he departed without violence. I salute that.
Now it's the Indian majority in the mountains battling the !owland urban Spanish for control. Who knows but that both sides might just want Evo back some day.
TSB: Joe Biden will go down in history as the funniest Presidential Candidate ever! He "named?" his list of VP picks earlier than anyone in history, but couldn't remember any of their names. gwb "Sleepy Joe" still gets full deference from his opponents even though he appears to be asleep much of the time when appearing in public.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7718511/Embarrassing-moment-Joe-Biden-lists-FOUR-potential-female-VP-picks-remember-names.html
Joe has tried to stay on for one election too many. He looks really artificial now - probably a Botox effect - and he's more prone to verbal Bidenisms that ever, like that improvised remark about "punching down" domestic violence. I think his advisers this time around are feeding him contemporary 'Woke Joe' material, but he keeps slipping back into 'Old Joe' language. Somebody should stage an intervention and end this elder abuse.
TSB: Liz Sawyer at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that the Twitter account of Danielle Stella, the Republican challenger to Ilhan Omar has been shut down after she called for her opponent to be lynched. https://www.juancole.com/2019/12/under-republicans-ilhan.html
I guess Danielle is trying to show that allowing false political ads on FB and twitter has some problems. Tulsi's lawsuit is looking better all the time.
gwb
Called for Omar to be lynched? That's a bit excessive. Whipping her could be on the table, though, since that's culturally appropriate for a Somali, and there are also the old-fashioned remedies of tar and feathers or riding her out of town on a rail. Both were traditional in Revolutionary America, as was "smoking a Tory" (blocking a home's chimney and doors overnight so the inhabitants were nearly asphyxiated by fireplace smoke).
Of course, Stella is only *calling* for that, and not actually doing it - unlike the Sons of Liberty - so this is a matter of free speech, and the FB ban is an intolerable corporate abuse of the First Amendment.
TSB: I miss-spoke. It's the "No Mallarky" bus tour for Joe in Iowa and this just in video shows quite a bit of Mallarky as Joe chews on Jill's fingers reminiscing about the good ol days! gwb https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-rambles-resurfaced-viral-clip-kids-petting-his-leg-hair-jumping-his-lap
In all seriousness, those clips of Joe's speeches are so very creepy, not to mention alarming as to his mental state, that his campaign ought to shut down while they (#1) tell him not to talk in public and unscripted anymore, and (#2) get him examined by the best doctors they can trust to keep quiet about what they find.
TSB: John Kerry and Joe Malarky are now a "thing". I wonder if they will be on "Face The Nation" tomorrow talking about how Joe ruffed up that 83 yo farmer in Iowa? gwb https://www.zerohedge.com/political/kerrys-endorsement-biden-fits-two-deceptive-supporters-iraq-war
or maybe spinning tales about where they were when Pearl Harbor happened?
The Kerry-Biden duo is presumably done out of old Senate ties, but I have to wonder why Kerry isn't worried that it might make the media take notice that his step-son was the partner of Beau Biden in some of his overseas sweetheart deals. They're what the Chinese call "Princelings."
TSB: Justice sure is slow in Pakistan, or "Pockistan as the elites used to call it.: Pakistan Army expresses anguish over death sentence handed down to former president Musharraf https://www.rt.com/news/476108-pakistan-army-anguish-over-musharraf/ I always thought Pervez was the one who assassinated Bhutto who would have defeated him in the election. I don't understand the treason charge though because there is no explanation in the story. Any idea where he has been or what he's been doing?? gwb
There are a lot of Bhuttos, and a lot of killings, in Pakistan, so you need a program to keep track. Benazir B. was Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996, and was a candidate in 2007 when she was assassinated while leaving a campaign event. General Pervez Musharraf was recently accused and convicted of not providing sufficient security for her campaign event.
Benazir's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, served as President of Pakistan in 2008 to 2013, coming to power by forcing General Pervez Musharraf out. Zardari became the country's first elected president to complete his constitutional term without being murdered or deposed in 2013.
Poor General Pervez Musharraf had served as President of Pakistan from 2001 until he was forced out by the Bhutto coalition in 2008. He was accused and acquitted of some crimes, then exiled himself from Pakistan, but returned in 2013. The then-Prime Minister had him arrested and charged with treason for having suspended the constitution in 2007. He's been locked up ever since. We'll see whether or not the Army tolerates his death sentence.
Benizir's father, Ali Bhutto, served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that as the fourth President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. He was deposed in a military coup by his appointed army chief Zia-ul-Haq, and was then tried and executed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent.
No soap opera could possibly compete with the ongoing saga that is Pakistan.
Thanks TSB: Every 5 years or so I like to check in for an update just in case nuclear catastrophe is imminent. Hope you have a Merry Christmas and James too!
Thanks. And please accept my best regards to you two gentlemen as well.
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