Foreign Office launches pro bono lawyers scheme to help UK prisoners abroad

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE: volunteers to advise Britons on human rights, fair trials and pleas

British nationals imprisoned abroad are set to benefit from pro bono advice by UK lawyers after the government unveiled plans to launch a network of volunteers.The initiative is part of a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) effort to protect the human rights of British prisoners overseas, of whom there were 3,251 as of January 2001.Lawyers will help when British prisoners cannot get legal aid, work with the local lawyers acting for prisoners by providing advice on questions such as human rights and fair trials, and advise the FCO on whether to support clemency pleas.The FCO will refer cases to lawyers in the network either at the request of the prisoner or their lawyer, or because the FCO itself has concerns.However, the advice will only be available under 'certain defined circumstances'.

Nia James, human rights co-ordinator in the FCO's consular division, said: 'The panel is still in its infancy.

We are deciding on its composition and under what circumstances it will be be employed.

What we do know at the moment is the need for its existence.'British consuls will make clear to prisoners that the service is no substitute for hiring a local lawyer and that English lawyers will not be able to represent them locally if, as is usually the case, they do not have rights of audience.Solicitor Stephen Jakobi, the founder of Fair Trials Abroad, said that while the panel is 'a great initiative, it does have its limitations'.

He explained: 'I am very much in favour of competent lawyers doing pro bono work in an area where they are competent but grasping international law and the law of other jurisdictions is a very steep learning curve.'He added: 'The panel will need careful vetting and a lot of support for it to be a valuable entity.'Mr Jakobi said that in the past 18 months the FCO had modernised its human rights policy.

'The FCO only used to support clemency pleas on health and humanitarian grounds, but not for apparent injustices as this was seen to offend the country where the prisoners were held,' he said.

Injustice was added in May.l For more details, contact Ms James, e-mail: nia.james@fco.gov.ukAndrew Towler