Summary of UK Parliament debate on extradition abuses (Nov 24 2011)

(Published in 2011-11-25 #WikiLeaks News | WL Central)

A transcript of the debate can be read here.

Various cases where extradition procedures resulted in abuse of Human Rights were debated yesterday, November 24, at Westminster Hall.
Observations were made throughout the debate relating to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, although his extradition was not one of the central topics. The cases of Gary McKinnon, Babar Ahmad, Deborah Dark and Michael Turner were brought up frequently and the ordeals suffered by these UK citizens exposed in depth. For more information on these cases and other misuses of the European Arrest Warrant please visit Fair Trials International.


Specifically regarding the extradition of Julian Assange, two primary issues were raised:


1) despite facing extradition, Julian Assange has not been charged with a crime (the EAW was therefore incorrectly applied as it was not issued for the purpose of prosecution, but investigation)

2) the European Arrest Warrant for Julian was requested by a private prosecutor who is not an official representative.


Julian Assange’s defense will, on the 5th December, consist essentially of these two points. The High Court of London will then decide whether these arguments are of “general public importance” and based on this decision, whether his appeal against extradition to Sweden will proceed to the Supreme Court as intended.

In several instances, Members of the Parliament were critical of the Scott Baker Review of UK Extradition Arrangements as it disregards evidence that the Extradition Arrest Warrant is being used for investigation rather prosecution and denies EAWs are being used in cases where there is insufficient evidence.
The EAW, Members of the Parliament agreed, ‘blindly assumes fairness in justice systems across Europe’ and can, for lack of strict legislation lead to miscarriage of justice.

It was conceded that the European Arrest Warrant must be reviewed in order to ensure its use for investigation is barred, issued under stricter guidelines as appropriate procedures are more difficult to evaluate in a foreign country with foreign language and foreign jurisdiction, and that the issue of excessive pretrial detention is also a pressing matter.
A requirement that extradition can be refused in case there is insufficient evidence to prosecute a citizen in a foreign country was also suggested.

WikiLeaks itself was mentioned briefly, as a cable on Gordon Brown’s private plea to have Gary McKinnon serve sentence in the UK was brought into discussion.


[Note: if you wish to contribute to the Julian Assange Defence Fund please visit Justice4Assange.com]