Businessman Jabir Motiwala has achieved a major victory in the UK, where the Government conceded that Priti Patel acted unlawfully when she cancelled his visit visa and detained him in jail following the collapse of his American extradition case at the London High Court.
Jabir Siddiq, better known as Jabir Motiwala, has recently gone to the UK High Court with a case against the Home Office. He faced an unexpected visit visa cancellation and detention due to the US government’s attempts at extraditing him from London for charges that could have led to life imprisonment had he been convicted. In order to war this extradition effort, Mr Sinddiqui dedicated more than two years of legal costs to his defence against the US Government.
Motiwala contended that the Home Office unlawfully terminated his 10-year visit visa without legal justification. However, according to government records he had overstayed beyond six months due to a series of arrests between 18 August 2018 and 14 April 2021. Motiwala faced a unique dilemma: with his Pakistani passport in the hands of UK authorities, he was unable to leave or meet Home Office conditions.
At the Royal Courts of Justice, Judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen determined that the Home Office unlawfully rescinded Jabir Motiwala’s UK visit visa after finding that Home Secretary Priti Patel (at that time) had failed to adhere to applicable regulations, ignored her discretionary power and ultimately made an irrational decision.
Following a successful hearing, the Home Office reversed its decision and granted Mr Jabir Siddiq his visa and pay damages for his illegal detainment at Wandsworth prison. In addition, they reimbursed him with more than five figures of legal fees incurred by this judicial review process. The UK prosecution has reached a groundbreaking agreement to repay legal costs associated with the extradition case of Motiwala.
Motiwala’s legal team at Connaught’s took swift action by launching a judicial review challenge on the Home Secretary’s decision to cancel their client’s multi-entry visit visa and detain him in the UK for several days. This was after an earlier deportation ruling by the then Secretary of State.
Jabir Motiwala made the news for an unexpected reason in August 2018 when Scotland Yard apprehended him from a London hotel near Edgware Road. The US government requested his extradition to stand trial on accusations falsely linking him with an infamous, outlawed organisation known as “D-company”. Jabir Motiwala’s trial made headlines again in April 2021 when an FBI agent Kamran Faridi admitted to providing false statements at the behest of their supervisors to facilitate the arrest. After the main witness against Motiwala recanted his testimony and admitted to lying, the US government was unable to pursue legal action any further. This twist dropped all charges against the defendant which result in closing the case.
On April 6th, 2021, the US government ended their pursuit of Jabir Motiwala. The British prosecutor divulged this information to London High Court on behalf of the US Government- effectively closing the case and ceasing further extradition proceedings. Rather than granting the individual their freedom, UK Home Office chose to revoke his visa, detain him for a week in Wandsworth prison with no explanation and then forcibly deport him back to Pakistan without a valid reason.
After arriving in Karachi on 15 April 2021, Jabir Motiwala’s lawyers took quick action and filed a legal case against the UK Home Office. Unfortunately, their attempts to restore his multi-entry visa were unsuccessful as the Home Office refused to even discuss Motiwala’s illegal detention.
Solicitors Kinza Rana and Sheryar Khan celebrated their efforts in helping to resolve this issue and said that the Home Secretary overturned the initial cancellation of Mr Siddiq’s 10-year multiple entry visit visa. We are proud to have secured an agreement with the Home Office that adequately compensates him for the grievous injustice he suffered at their hands.
On 19 March 2021, The News and Geo uncovered a jaw-dropping plot twist: former FBI informant Faridi had been barred from entering the UK by immigration authorities. He had planned to testify in court under oath that he’d been part of a scheme which unlawfully persecuted Jabir Motiwala. After a long court battle, the US government finally conceded that it had no case against Jabir and terminated its extradition efforts. Kamran Faridi faced serious FBI charges for making threatening comments to his superior after being denied reimbursement of thousands of dollars. After spending 32 months behind bars in the Wandsworth prison, Motiwala took off for Pakistan as a free man. Meanwhile, Kamran Faridi was handed down an ominous seven-year sentence.
