Ronald Grant Jones v (1) The Ministry of the Interior for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2) Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Aziz

On 15th March 2001, British born Mr Jones was mildly injured in a bomb blast outside a bookstore in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was taken to a Saudi hospital and alleges that on the following day he was taken from the hospital and falsely imprisoned for 67 days by the defendant’s agents. During this time Mr Jones claims that he was systematically abused and tortured. He was now seeking to pursue a damages claim in this jurisdiction against the defendants. A central issue in the case is that of state immunity - whether the defendants are given immunity from the jurisdiction of the English courts in civil proceedings under the State Immunity Act 1978 and whether that immunity is or is not subject to an overriding qualification in respect of the alleged torture.
Jo Pollard, of Blackstone Chambers, succeeded in persuading the court that the Ministry and its agent, the second defendant, were entitled to state immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978 and accordingly the claim against them both was dismissed.