THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE MODERN ANTI-DREYFUSARDS

THE TELEGRAPH - DANIEL HANNAN

It could happen to absolutely anyone: that’s the scary thing. When you read about Britons unfairly detained in foreign prisons, you rarely imagine yourself in their place; there’s usually a bit of you thinking, “I wouldn’t have joined a protest march in a tinpot dictatorship” or “I wouldn’t have gone for a drink with a drug smuggler” or “I wouldn’t have been in North Korea in the first place” or “I wouldn’t have hacked into the Pentagon computer system”.

You would have no such consolation in the case of Andrew Symeou, a young man from Enfield who has lost three years of his life because of what looks like a straightforward case of mistaken identity.

Fair Trials International, who have been very supportive, say that the European Arrest Warrant under which Andrew was seized is more objectionable on civil liberties grounds than the UK–US extradition treaty under which Gary McKinnon is being pursued.