Concern for safety and wellbeing of barrister acting for Hamas

The Socialist Lawyers’ Association of Ireland yesterday published a statement in solidarity with Franck Magennis after a TV presenter asked him on air: “How do you sleep at night?”

Mr Magennis, a London-based barrister who originally hails from Dublin, is part of the UK legal team acting pro bono for Hamas as it applies to home secretary Yvonne Cooper for “deproscription” in the UK.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, usually described as the military wing of Hamas, was proscribed under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 in 2001.

The rest of Hamas was subsequently proscribed in 2021 after the UK government of the day said it no longer recognised a distinction between its military and political wings.

Lawyers for Hamas argue that its proscription is disproportionate and incompatible with Articles 10, 11 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Much of the media coverage of the Palestinian group’s application has, however, focused on the UK lawyers involved in the first-of-its-kind case.

The Conservative Party has led calls for each of them to be investigated and potentially struck off, with shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claiming that the “legal profession is being damaged by ideologues exploiting their status to platform extremism”.

Riverway Law, the London solicitors’ firm which brought the case, denies any wrongdoing and has criticised media coverage of the lawyers for “effectively placing a target on our backs”.

The Socialist Lawyers’ Association of Ireland said the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers made clear that lawyers “shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions”.

“We note that Franck has been publicly identified with the legal team’s client, Hamas, by Talk TV’s presenter, Peter Cardwell,” the association said.

“Pat Finucane was another Irish lawyer publicly identified with his clients who were members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army by, inter alia, a British MP, and then assassinated by British state forces in 1989 in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.

“The same fate befell the Irish human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson in 1999 also following collusion between British state forces and loyalist paramilitaries. 

“Accordingly, we are gravely concerned for the safety and wellbeing of Franck and the rest of the legal team representing Hamas who are facing intimidation, hindrance, harassment and improper interference in the performance of their professional functions.

“We condemn any attempt to associate Franck and the rest of the legal team representing Hamas with their clients and we offer our sincere and heartfelt solidarity to them.”