One of the judges of the European Court of Justice has made an influential recommendation against the appeal of one of the European Union's other organs, backed up by the British Government, against a previous judgment to the effect that the EU was wrong to add Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat to a sanctions list.

Some time ago an EU court declared the EU's decision, taken on the say-so of the British government, to put Bank Mellat (and Bank Saderat, the Iranian private bank) on a sanctions list to be illegal; now the appeal against that decision has foundered. Sarosh Zaiwalla, an eminent sanctions solicitor in the UK, believes that the European Court will now enforce the judge's opinion. The judge has the job-title of 'advocate general,' which in Scotland and Northern Ireland describes the person who advises the national assemblies about law and which might denote something similar in the EU.

This marks another major step in the Bank’s pursuit of £2.3 billion in damages from the British Government. The judge believes that:
* the court should dismiss both the appeals in the matter of Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat as unfounded;
* the EU organ that colluded with the British Government - a council of some sort - should bear its own costs and those of the banks in relation to the main appeals; and
* the United Kingdom and the European Commission, the nearest thing that the EU has to an executive branch, should bear their own costs in relation to both the appeals and the cross appeal. The extent of the European Commission's involvement in the case is unknown.

The European Court of Justice heard the appeal on 10 September 2014. At the appeal hearing the British government appeared as interveners to support the aforementioned council, whose appeal was against the EU General Court’s earlier decision that listing Bank Mellat under Iran nuclear sanctions by EU Council was unlawful.

The judge went on to say that the council should bear its own costs and those of the banks in relation to the main appeals and that the United Kingdom and the European Commission should bear their own costs in relation to both the appeals and a 'cross-appeal'. The European Court of Justice heard Bank Mellat’s appeal along with an appeal of Bank Saderat, another Iranian Bank.

The council in question added Bank Mellat to the "Iran sanctions list" on the say-so of the British Government. Bank Mellat is represented by Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors in London. Zaiwalla said: "In this case [there was no] evidence linking the Bank to Iran’s nuclear activity. Sanctions must not injure innocent parties who have no role to play in their government’s decision, as required by Article 17 of the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights."