GARRY MANN EXTRADITED TO PORTUGAL

THE GUARDIAN - MARK TRAN

Football fan convicted over Euro 2004 riot in 'travesty of justice' to serve two years for hooliganism.

Football fan Garry Mann will be sent to Portugal today to serve a two-year jail sentence for hooliganism, after losing a long battle against extradition, despite support from justice campaigners.

The former Kent firefighter, 52, was booked on an Air Portugal flight and told to report at Heathrow's Terminal One at 4.20pm. Once in Lisbon, he was to be transferred to prison. Mann lost his final extradition challenge last week.

Rebecca Shaeffer, Mann's case worker at Fair Trials International, said the Portuguese authorities were under the impression that Mann would serve his two-year sentence in the UK, whereas Mann and the British consular authorities thought deportation was the punishment.

Fair Trials International said Mann's case highlighted the need for reform of the European arrest warrant and the fast-track system for extradition in Europe.

"Warrants should not be issued for minor offences or issued many years after an alleged offence, and courts should use their powers to refuse extradition where it would breach basic fair trial and other human rights," the group said. "There also need to be stronger defence rights across Europe so that unjust trials like Garry's don't occur with such frequency."