Mini Forum on UK High Court Ruling British Forces Lack Detention Authority in Afghanistan

On May 2, the High Court of England and Wales handed down a judgment in Serdar Mohammed v. Ministry of Defense (full text). Mr. Justice Leggatt held that British forces lacked authority under the law of armed conflict to detain individuals in a non-international armed conflict for the purpose of interrogation or as a security threat, and he held that detaining an individual (in this case, a suspected Taliban commander) for more than four days without judicial oversight violated the European Convention on Human Rights. Mr Justice Leggatt’s opinion is carefully reasoned and detailed, and deserves considered attention. Over at EJIL Talk!, Marko Milanovic had posted a useful analytic summary of the judgment. Just Security is holding a “Mini Forum” to analyze different elements of this extraordinary judgment. We kick off the Forum with a post from Jonathan Horowitz and Chris Rogers and another post from Derek Jinks. Others in the series include posts by Ryan Goodman and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, and others may join the conversation.