Ahmed: Khawar Qureshi QC reports on the Supreme Court’s landmark decision
The first case to be heard by the Supreme Court, concerned two Orders in Council (the Terrorism Order 2006 (TO) and the Al-Qaeda Order 2006 (AQO) (the SIs)), which sought to give effect to UN Security Council Sanctions Resolutions (the UNSCRs) targeted at terrorist funds and economic resources (HM Treasury v Ahmed and others [2010] UKSC 2 (Ahmed No 1, [2010] All ER (D) 179 (Jan)) and HM Treasury v Ahmed and others [2010] UKSC 5 (Ahmed No 2, [2010] All ER (D) 40 (Feb)).
Four individuals who were made the subject of the SIs from around late 2006/August 2007 (and thus had access to any economic resources denied absent a licence from HM Treasury) sought to challenge the legal basis for the SIs.
The UNSCRs were promulgated pursuant to Ch VII (Art 41) of the UN Charter, and created a binding obligation on all member states to accept and carry them out (Art 25 UN Charter). Under English Law, international law obligations created by Treaty or UNSCR’s must be “transposed” into
