GARRY MANN WINS INJUNCTION AGAINST EXTRADITION

Garry Mann and family

THE GUARDIAN - MARK TRAN

Former fireman and England fan caught in legal limbo over arrest at Euro 2004 wins high court review of extradition to Portugal.

Football fan Garry Mann has won permission to continue his legal battle against extradition to Portugal, where he was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a riot at the Euro 2004 tournament.

The high court has granted Mann's request for an injunction against his extradition until a hearing on 7 May.

"Today's decision means we can continue the battle to stop Garry Mann becoming another victim of Europe's fast-track extradition system," said Jago Russell, chief executive of Fair Trials International, which has supported Mann's fight against extradition.

"We hope the high court will take this opportunity to deliver justice and stop Garry being torn from his family and flown to Portugal to serve a two-year sentence."

His case was taken up by Fair Trials International, which defends the rights of those facing charges in a country other than their own.

Rebecca Shaeffer, Mann's case worker at the group, 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.

"There seems to confusion because of the emergency legislation that was brought in for the championship," she said this week.