Summary

Zia has experience in many different fields, he mainly specializes in Immigration, Extradition, Crime and Licensing. Zia holds a thriving immigration practice, appearing regularly at Immigration tribunals nationwide. He has dealt with numerous large immigration appeals and complex judicial reviews. In extradition Zia has been involved in major developments in the law of extradition, he advised on the proposal for ad hoc extradition arrangements between the UK and Pakistan and has advised the Government of Pakistan National Accountability Bureau on Individual extradition requests to USA and UAE.

Zia regularly prosecutes and defends in criminal matters ranging from serious assault to financial fraud. He has also advised applications on entitlement to compensation under the schemes operated by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. In licensing he has represented mini cab firms appealing against decisions made by the Public Carriage Office and has acted for various restaurants and BP Shops for licensing applications. Zia undertakes work in Landlord & tenant matters conducting litigation during renewal of tenancy and for breaches of covenants.

Zia undertook an internship at JUSTICE, dealing with issues involving actions against the police and human rights. He is fluent in Urdu , Hindu , and Punjabi.

Notable Cases

Immigration:

Counsel in reported case of CD v Secretary of State, A decision under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 that involves the invalidation of any leave to enter or remain is to be treated for the purposes of the 2002 Act as a curtailment of that leave within section 82(2)(e), with the result that a person may appeal against that decision whilst he is in the United Kingdom, whether or not he has made an asylum claim or a human rights claim.

Extradition Law:

Khuder Al-Sweady & Others

Junior Counsel Instructed by the Red Cross relating to disclosure of documents.

Disclosure and Article 5 of ECHR (ex parte Kashamu No. (1))

Closely assisted with the conduct of this case and was given the task of assembling important aspects of evidence and researching existing principles of law, which required revision in the light of the ECHR. The case met with a successful outcome in the Divisional Court.

Abuse of Process and Jurisdiction (ex parte Kashamu No. (2) TLR 12-12-01

This case had two principal aspects. Firstly, whether there ought to be an abuse jurisdiction recognised by the courts (which until then did not exist in extradition proceedings). Secondly, whether in this particular case, the court having accepted jurisdiction, there were sufficient merits to make out an abuse of process by the government. Was given the responsibility of organising evidence to advance an argument that there had been an abuse of process.

Extra-territorial Jurisdiction and Admissibility of Anonymous Witness Testimony (Al-Fawwaz [2002] 2 WLR 101

In this case exposure focused on researching extensive and complex case law. The case concerned the US Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar-El Salam and the issue was whether our client was a ‘fugitive criminal’ and thus capable of being extradited to USA because of the extra-territorial nature of the crimes alleged against him. We succeeded on this point in the Divisional Court but the client’s appeal was dismissed by the House of Lords. The courts also reviewed the law pertaining to the admissibility of evidence from a confidential source.