A Powerful Lesson In UK Data Protection Law Restrictions

The protections afforded by the GDPR and the UK's 2018 Data Protection Act ('DPA') are not naturally associated with efforts to frustrate and restrict the use of the death penalty internationally. However, the recent Supreme Court judgment, Elgizouli v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 10, exemplifies how data protection law may have far wider effects than one would naturally anticipate. The case concerns the UK Government's decision to provide mutual legal assistance to the United States in connection with a US investigation into Shafee el Sheikh, the Appellant's son, suspected of committing various atrocities as an ISIS militant. Some of those offences carried the death penalty. Breaking with its customary protocol, the UK Government transferred material to the US without obtaining assurances that he would not be subject to the death penalty.