UK High Court Says Sanctions Act Complies With European Human Rights Convention

The United Kingdom's High Court of Justice dismissed a challenge from Egyptian national and sanctioned individual Hany Youssef over whether the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act complies with Articles 6 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, according to a Nov. 26 judgment. Articles 6 and 8 guarantee the right of access to a court and protect the right to private and family life, respectively. Youssef was sanctioned by the United Nations Al-Qaida and Taliban Financial Sanctions Committee in 2005. Following the passage of SAMLA in 2018, the Egyptian national sought to have his UN sanctions listing removed via the U.K. government, eventually arguing that the U.K. judicial system's inability to order the U.K. government to quash a UN sanctions listing is in violation of the ECHR.

As it pertains to Article 6, the court said that the SAMLA scheme is not incompatible with the ECHR. Under SAMLA, a listed individual can request that the U.K. government seek their removal from the UN's sanctions list, which the government can refuse to do. This action is subject to judicial review. If the court finds that the U.K. government's refusal to seek to de-list an individual from a UN sanctions regime was unlawful, the court can order the U.K. to use its "best endeavors" to have the person de-listed by the UN Security Council. However, the court cannot order the U.K. to quash the sanctions listing itself. Youssef argued that this failed to comply with Article 6. The judge, though, said that this "best endeavors" remedy does comply with the ECHR requirements of a "remedy against arbitrariness."