Human rights lawyer in spotlight

The QC has argued many landmark cases in the European Court of Human Rights, the House of Lords, the Privy Council and Commonwealth courts.

He came to the public’s attention assisting the late Sir John Mortimer defending magazine publishers in the “Oz” trial of 1971, the longest obscenity trial in British legal history.

In one of his recent cases he represented Tasmanian aborigines in a novel action which stopped the Natural History Museum from experimenting on their ancestors’ remains.

Coun Colin Inglis, chairman of the Wilberforce Lecture Trust, said: “It should be a very interesting and entertaining lecture from a very learned and accomplished but also radical and amusing speaker and advocate.”

After the lecture at Holy Trinity Church in Hull, on Friday May 24, a Wilberforce Medal will be
presented to Amnesty International to mark its 50th anniversary.

Mr Robertson has been an active supporter of AI almost since its founding.