A Nigerian who said he risks being retried for a crime for which he has already served 16 years in jail if he is returned to his home country is facing a deportation order after a court ruling.
The Court of Appeal overturned yesterday a decision by the Court of First Instance quashing a deportation order imposed on Edward Wilson Ubamaka.
Ubamaka was arrested for drug possession in 1991. He was jailed for 24 years in 1993 and released in 2007 with remission for good behaviour.
The lower court found that he had paid his dues to society and to deport him to face a real risk of retrial would amount to inhuman treatment.
The Secretary for Security and the Director of Immigration appealed.
Handing down the ruling yesterday, Mr Justice Joseph Fok noted Nigeria was a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He said although it was not directly relevant to Ubamaka's case, it would appear to demonstrate that the principle applied there that a previous conviction precluded another prosecution for the same offence.