Ida Aduwa

Ida Aduwa is a senior associate solicitor who works with Martyn Day in the international department. She specialises in claims involving digital surveillance by foreign states, transnational repression, and multi-claimant action against government actors and multinational corporations.

Legal expertise

Ida has developed a growing area of expertise in transnational repression, spyware and threats posed to civil society by digital and smart technology. Ida is currently representing Saudi, Bahraini and Rwandan dissidents in novel claims which look at the interface between State immunity and whether it applies when it comes to acts causing serious harm to individuals in the United Kingdom. Ida has a keen interest in representing claimants affected by Spyware and transnational repression, in the UK.

Since joining Leigh Day in 2017, after having completed her training contract at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, Ida has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including:

• Ghanem Al-Masarir: a claim on behalf of prominent human rights activist and satirist who has been heavily involved for many years in campaigning for political reform in Saudi Arabia launched a legal claim against the Saudi Government for the alleged targeting and hacking of his mobile phone devices with spyware known as Pegasus, acquired from the NSO group. The alleged spyware enabled the Saudi government to modify, extract, and record all information stored on and communicated on his devices. The first hearing took place in June 2021, with a judgment handed down by Mr Justice Julian Knowles on 19 August 2022, finding for Ghanem on each of the points raised by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's application.
• In December 2022, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appealed the High Court's judgment, including the Court's order that the Kingdom is to pay Leigh Day £150,000 on account of Ghanem's legal costs. The Court of Appeal granted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia permission to appeal in May 2023 but refused to vary the costs order made against it. Following the Saudi regime's failure to comply with the court's orders, Leigh Day applied to the court and was granted with an order that unless the Kingdom made payment of £210,000 as security for Ghanem's costs by a set date, its appeal would be struck out without further order. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia refused to provide this security and maintained its assertion of sovereign immunity in relation to Ghanem's claim. The Kingdom's appeal was therefore dismissed by the Court, and it was ordered to confirm whether it wishes to defend all or part of Ghanem's Claim and file its defence. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia refuses to engage further in these proceedings. 
• Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed: a claim brought by Bahraini activists in the UK against the Kingdom of Bahrain for the alleged targeting and hacking of their electronic devices with Finspy, produced by the Gamma Group. The software can access documents, emails and messages, view web browsing history and conduct live surveillance through accessing the computer’s camera and microphone. In a judgment handed down in February 2023, the High Court dismissed that the Kingdom of Bahrain does not have immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978. The Kingdom of Bahrain appealed this judgment, and an appeal hearing took place before the Court of Appeal in July 2024.
• In a judgment handed down in October 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed the Kingdom of Bahrain's appeal and upheld a High Court ruling that the Kingdom of Bahrain is not afforded sovereign immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978 with respect to its alleged use of FinFisher surveillance software to infiltrate the computers of the Claimants
• Faustin Rukundo and Violette Uwamahoro: a claim brought by a husband and wife living in the UK against the Republic of Rwanda for the alleged targeting and hacking of Mr Rukundo’s mobile telephone device with spyware known as Pegasus via the WhatsApp security breach hacking in April 2019. Faustin and Violette are bringing a claim for personal injuries resulting from the misuse of private information and harassment in relation to the spyware. Leigh Day issued the claim in the High Court in May 2022, and they were granted permission to file their claim in the Republic of Rwanda in September 2022. The process to serve the Republic of Rwanda was complex, and therefore, service was only effected in Rwanda in April 2024. Faustin and Violette await the Court's decision on their claim.
• Rania Dridi v United Arab Emirates: a claim brought by a female journalist at Al Araby Tv Network against the United Arab Emirates for the alleged targeting and hacking of her mobile phone with Pegasus spyware, acquired from the NSO group in late 2020.
• Claims by Malawian citizens against tea companies: claims currently being undertaken on behalf of Malawian employees who accuse the tea companies of being negligent in their duty of care towards female employees, given the sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination suffered by the claimants during the course of their work on plantations.
• Josiya & Ors v British American Tobacco Plc & Ors: claims on behalf of tobacco farmers and their families who accuse British American Tobacco of unjust enrichment, namely that they made huge profits from the leaves that were picked by farmers who were effectively forced to work for very little pay under fear, duress and false pretences and were left with no option but to put their children to work on the farms too.
• Iraqi Civil Claims v MoD: claims on behalf of hundreds of Iraqi claimants alleging unlawful detention and mistreatment by British forces during the wars in Iraq.

Ida also represents a group of forty-one Tamil asylum seekers, including thirteen children currently detained on Diego Garcia by the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration. The claim relates to the alleged false imprisonment and personal injury including severe psychiatric injuries sustained during the group’s ongoing detention.

Ida works on novel interesting cases through the Courts at all stages from lower courts to the Court of Appeal, she works on cases with complexities including navigating state immunity points and likely enforcement as well as complex jurisdictional challenges including a case issued in the BIOT Supreme Court. As a result, Ida is now registered to Practice in the BIOT Supreme Court.

Ida was invited to speak at the UN Headquarters in New York by the UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights former mandate holder 2023 – on the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, using litigation as a deterrent/remedy.

Ida was identified as being a ‘rising star’ in an article naming Leigh Day as one of the 2021 Times Best Law Firms feature.

Prior to joining Leigh Day, Ida worked for Refugee and Migrant Justice, representing asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants in all stages of the asylum and immigration process. She also spent three years working in the Public Law and Human Rights team at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors specialising in public law, human rights, health and social care, and welfare cases in the Court of Protection.