Liberty
believes that any decision about where a person should face trial must be
informed by human rights considerations.
If a significant part of the conduct that constitutes the alleged offence took
place in the UK, issues of evidence, the location of witnesses, the seriousness
of the alleged offence, the interests of justice and the effect on the life of
the person should be able to form part of any decision to allow extradition.
However, under extradition laws currently in force a UK
court cannot bar extradition even where the conduct that led to the alleged
crime took place while the person was in the UK.
So, as in the cases of Gary McKinnon and Christopher Tappin and others, even if the alleged
conduct took place in the UK
via the internet, email or telephone and it’s possible to prosecute in the UK, there is
nothing giving a British court the power to bar extradition on these grounds.
In 2006 amendments were made to the Extradition Act that would allow a UK court to bar extradition on this basis,
giving UK
judges the power to decide on the basis of each individual case whether it is
appropriate to order extradition. Yet, these provisions have never been brought
into force.
When the law was introduced as an Opposition amendment in 2006 the previous
Government only agreed to it after introducing a ‘killing clause’ – ensuring
that the law could not be brought into force unless both Houses of Parliament
passed a resolution to do so. The previous Government never intended to bring
it into force - the then Home Secretary the Rt Hon Jon Reid MP was explicit
about this when he said: “The Government are not, of course, obliged to bring
forward such a resolution, and have no intention of doing so“.
Both parties in the new Coalition Government were extremely supportive of this
law while in Opposition.
There is nothing to prevent the new Government from acting immediately by
scheduling a motion to debate and pass resolutions in both Houses of
Parliament. The law is already on the statute book it just needs to be
activated.
In respect of our international arrangements the vast majority of extradition
treaties specifically allow the UK
to refuse to extradite on this basis – an important safeguard the UK has so far
failed to utilise.
The new Government now has the opportunity to bring this important safeguard
into force immediately. Had such a law been in force when Gary McKinnon’s case
first came before the courts his extradition to America could have been barred by
the court on this basis. We are now calling on the Coalition Government to
honour the principles both parties strongly supported while in opposition, and
immediately bring forward a motion before both Houses of Parliament.
It is time for the Government to stand up for future Gary McKinnons and give
our courts the discretion to refuse extradition when the public interest is so
clearly not served by extradition.