FF v Director of Public Prosecutions

The UK’s Director of Public Prosecutions has accepted that Bahraini Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa is not immune from criminal proceedings in the UK. Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Cranston confirmed this decision at a divisional court hearing in London on 7 October 2014. At that hearing, the Court also made a declaration that the Prince has no immunity under international law.
 
A Bahraini torture survivor, known only as FF brought the case to challenge the Director of Public Prosecution‘s decision of August 2012 that the Prince has immunity from prosecution in relation to allegations of torture made against the Prince connected with the 2011 uprising in Bahrain. The case was due to be contested in court on 7 October but the DPP accepted that its decision had to be quashed, an order confirmed by the Divisional Court. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which initially raised the torture allegations with the police and DPP, was an interested party in the proceedings.
 
Dinah Rose QC and Tom Hickman acted for FF instructed by Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors.