Al-Adsani v. The United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom was not under a duty to provide a civil remedy to the applicant in respect of alleged torture which did not take place within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom or with which the United Kingdom authorities did not have any causal connection. The Court accepted that the prohibition of torture has achieved the status of a peremptory norm in international law. Notwithstanding the special character of the prohibition of torture in international law, it was not established that there was yet acceptance in international law of the proposition that States were not entitled to immunity in respect of civil claims for damages for alleged torture committed outside the forum State. The application by the English courts of the provisions of the State Immunity Act 1978 to uphold Kuwait's claim to immunity could not, therefore, be said to have amounted to an unjustified restriction on the applicant's access to court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]