Rabah Kherbane

Administrative & Public Law

Criminal Law

Sanctions

International Law

Public International Law

Criminal Appeals

Business Crime & Investigations

Rabah specialises in judicial review, terrorism and national security cases. His practice encompasses public law, terrorism and murder trials, sanctions, public international law, criminal appeals, asset recovery and media law. He is experienced in high-profile and politically sensitive cases.

Rabah’s previous cases include:

Terrorism and murder: Allegations of support for or membership of a proscribed organisation; Journalists and academics charged under terrorism legislation; “Foreign fighter” case, where a confession was obtained by ill-treatment overseas; The Gray’s Inn Bomb plot; Bomb hoax at the US Embassy in London; Parole case for London Stock Exchange bomb plot conspirator; Murder trials, including joint enterprise torture-killings, stabbings and multiple casualty shootings. Rabah regularly advises organisations and individuals on terrorism legislation. Rabah previously assisted in the representation of two Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Public law: Judicial review challenges on terrorism and national security issues; Acting for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights as intervener in a claim for judicial review against a proscription decision; Terrorism prevention and investigation measures (TPIMs) and similar proceedings in the High Court; SIAC proceedings; Challenges to the use of Schedule 3 or Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000; Judicial review of categorisation or Parole Board decisions, including for “terrorist offenders”; Expedited or urgent claims for judicial review, including an urgent claim against the refusal of the Director of Public Prosecutions to issue an arrest warrant for war crimes and an out of hours application for a writ of habeus corpus.

Sanctions: Compliance and enforcement advice for corporates and law firms, including on counter-terrorism, Russia and Syria sanctions regimes; Challenge to an alleged breach of EU sanctions regulations by Russian businessman resulting in an acquittal in Norway; De-listing petitions before the UN for alleged membership of proscribed organisation.

Public international law: Advice on immunities; Proceedings before UN bodies to challenge the arbitrary detention of a former Prime Minister of a Gulf State; Representation for a US national who waived diplomatic immunity.

Criminal appeals: Court of Appeal judgment taking the law “one step further” on the right to a fair trial and permissible comment by a trial judge; Successful appeals against conviction and sentence including overturning a finding of dangerousness in a terrorism case.

Financial crime and asset recovery: Account freezing orders, including on foreign bribery and corruption; Terrorist account freezing orders; Restraint and civil recovery proceedings linked to multi-jurisdictional criminal investigations.

Media: Advice on journalistic activity that may engage Official Secrets Act; Actions for defamation related to allegations of extremism.

Rabah has a BCL (master’s degree) from the University of Oxford, with a specialism in terrorism and national security, human rights, and public international law.

Rabah was the Oxford Bonavero Institute Fellow and then the Bertha Justice Fellow at Reprieve. He worked on terrorism and national security cases, such as the Third Direction litigation at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

Rabah was also Judicial Assistant to Mr Justice Swift when he was the judge in charge of the Administrative Court. Rabah worked on judicial review and media cases in the High Court, and appeals in the Court of Appeal.

Kalisher Trust (Trustee)

ALBA

Inner Temple

BCL (Distinction) – University of Oxford

LLB (First-Class Honours, top in the year) – The City Law School

Peter Duffy Memorial Award, Human Rights Lawyers Association

Global Justice Award, University of Oxford

Bonavero Institute of Human Rights Fellowship, University of Oxford

Senior Scholarship, University of Oxford

Hackney BCL Scholarship, University of Oxford

Geoffrey Nice Foundation Scholarship. Inner Temple

Major Scholarship (full BPTC Award), Inner Temple