Court of Appeal to hold urgent meeting over Archie Battersbee

The Court of Appeal will hold an urgent online meeting at 11am on Monday to discuss the case of Archie Battersbee following interventions by the government and UN.

The meeting is being convened after the government's legal department sent the case back to the Family Division of the High Court for "urgent reconsideration". 

On Friday, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) asked the government to keep Archie on life support while it considers his case.

The family, which is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), turned to the UN CRPD after the Supreme Court refused to intervene.  

Over the weekend, the 12-year-olds' mother, Hollie Dance, wrote to Health Secretary Stephen Barclay urging the government to stop his life support from being removed.

Barts Health NHS Trust had planned to withdraw Archie's life support on Monday. A stay on removing his life support has been put in place until 1pm. 

Responding to the news, Archie's mother, Hollie Dance, said: "We are very relieved to hear this news.

"The anxiety of being told that Archie's life-support will be removed tomorrow at 2pm has been horrific. We are already broken and the not-knowing what was going to happen next is excruciating."

CLC chief executive Andrea Williams said: "Life is the most precious gift we have. We have stood with the family from the beginning three months ago following the tragedy and now continue to pray for this beautiful boy, Archie, and for everyone involved."

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