GOVERNMENT TO ANNOUNCE EXTRADITION REVIEW TODAY

for immediate release

The Home Secretary will announce a review of the UK Extradition Act later today. The review follows widespread public criticism of the Act and serious cases of injustice caused by it.

Jago Russell, Fair Trials International’s Chief Executive, said:
“Reform of the UK’s extradition arrangements is long overdue. Cases of injustice are stacking up, with people extradited to serve sentences imposed after grossly unfair trials, torn from their homes and families for the most minor offences and held in foreign prisons for months without trial. We hope this review will finally put justice back at the heart of our extradition system.”

Fair Trials International eagerly awaits publication of the structure and timetable for this review later today. Sadly, it comes too late for the many individuals whose lives have already been turned upside down by this legislation. (See cases summarized in attached.) With the UK currently extraditing on average three people a day, we need an urgent and effective solution to this mounting problem.

For more information please contact Fair Trials International on +44 (0)20 7822 2370 or +44 (0)7950 849 851

Notes to Editors

1. Background
   For nearly 20 years, Fair Trials International has supported people facing criminal charges across the globe. These cases leave us in no doubt about the grave human costs of extradition and the challenges to obtaining a fair trial hundreds of miles from home. In particular, we have serious concerns about the operation of Europe’s fast-track extradition system which, although designed to deliver justice, is causing serious cases of injustice. The new system has made it far easier transfer people at the request of another EU country – and correspondingly harder for courts in the country receiving the request to say no. See below a document for examples of the injustice that this has led to.
   
   The Extradition Act came into force in January 2004 and introduced radical changes to the UK’s extradition system. Enacted in the wake of the 9/11 atrocities, the legislation aimed to fast-track the system for sending people from one country to another for trial or serve a prison sentence. For extraditions within the European Union, a new “European Arrest Warrant” was introduced, which removed all political discretion in extradition decisions and did away with traditional legal barriers to extradition.
   
   These Warrants have resulted in a steady increase in the number of people the UK has sent to other EU countries since the system came in. Shocking figures recently published by the Serious Organised Crime Agency reveal that the number of people surrendered from Britain to other European countries rose by more than 50% last year. Over one thousand people – almost three a day – were detained and extradited by the UK in the year 2009-2010.
   
   David Blunkett, Home Secretary when the European Arrest Warrant system was introduced, said that although he believed he was right to support the system, he was “insufficiently sensitive to how it might be used”. Senior judges have also expressed serious concerns over their inability to prevent cases of injustice under the Extradition Act. The case of Garry Mann (extradited to Portugal in May – see a link to the case summary below) has been described by Lord Justice Moses as “an embarrassment”.
    
2. Fair Trials International’s Justice in Europe campaign
   
   We have long campaigned for a fairer system of extradition within Europe. Our demands are:
   · Arrest Warrants should not be issued for minor offences where the effect of extradition is disproportionate to the alleged crime
   · Courts should be able to refuse extradition where it would breach fundamental rights, for example there has been a grossly unfair trial or a fair trial is clearly impossible
   · To accompany a fairer system of extradition, Europe must continue legislating to require all EU countries to respect basic fair trial rights and ensure people are not kept in pre-trial detention for excessive periods. Only then can we be confident that people will be treated fairly once extradited.