Diplomatic Immunity

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Two Issues Concerning the French Arrest Warrant for the Algerian Diplomat: Functional Immunities and Qualification of the Crime

September 25, 2025

On the 25th of July 2025, a French judge issued an international arrest warrant against a former Algerian diplomat to the embassy in Paris. According to Le Monde, the arrest warrant concerns the participation of Salaheddine Selloum in the “arrest, confinement, abduction, and arbitrary detention” of Algerian political opponent Amir DZ, allegedly committed in April 2024 close to Paris. The arrest warrant raises two questions, namely functional immunities and the possible qualification of the facts under the label of enforced disappearance. Therefore, after a brief description of the alleged facts, this post analyses whether Mr. Selloum enjoys immunity, with a specific focus on the current work of the International Law Commission (ILC) and the recent July 2025 Decision of the French Cour de Cassation on this matter. Finally, it considers whether the warrant could have been issued for another crime, namely enforced disappearance.

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The Glas Case: Diplomatic Asylum Returns to the ICJ?

April 8, 2024

All opinions expressed in this blog post are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization. On 5 April 2024, in the middle of the night, law enforcement agents of the Republic of Ecuador broke into the Mexican Embassy in Quito and apprehended Jorge David Glas Espinel, former Vice President of…

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Diplomatic Immunity, Modern Slavery and the “Commercial Activity” Exception:  The UK Supreme Court in Basfar v Wong

July 11, 2022

Can a diplomat assert their immunity from suit in a claim for breach of employment rights brought by a domestic servant working for them in their residence, in circumstances in which that diplomat has trafficked that servant into the United Kingdom and forced that servant to work in conditions of modern slavery? In the landmark decision…

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The Waiver of Immunity of Catalan MEPs: Reintroducing Politics in EU Extradition Law

March 11, 2021

On 8 March 2021, the European Parliament voted to lift the immunity of Catalan MEPs, Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsati. Although this long-lasting saga is far from being over as Puigdemont already announced his intention to bring the case before the CJEU on procedural grounds, this decision would theoretically enable Spanish authorities to resume the European arrest…

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Diplomats or fonctionnaires? The Contested Status of the EU’s ‘Embassy’ in the UK

March 1, 2021

May the European Union have a full diplomacy, on a par with States? This issue has been problematic since 1954, when the European Coal and Steel Community opened its first delegation – in London. Already in 1961, Pescatore wrote that ‘it is clear why the use of the term “diplomatic” to designate the Community’s missions in third…

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