NEW POWERS TO BLOCK BRITONS FROM EXTRADITION

THE TELEGRAPH - TOM WHITEHEAD, ANDREW PORTER and CHRISTOPHER HOPE

An independent review of agreements with the US and European nations is to be announced by Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

The review will examine five key areas of the 2003 Extradition Act, including the relationship with the US and the operation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

Last month, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that the number of people seized in Britain under an EAW had risen more than 50 per cent in a year. Critics say the courts have little power to stop a transfer and that it is being abused to pursue people for minor offences. Foreign prosecutors do not have to present evidence. Suspects can spend long periods in jail – here and abroad – even for offences which are not crimes in Britain.

Jago Russell, chief executive of Fair Trials International, said: “Reform of the UK’s extradition arrangements is long overdue. Cases of injustice are stacking up.”