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Five suspected U.K. terrorists to be extradited to U.S.
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
April 11th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
April 11th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Five U.K. terror suspects should be extradited from the U.K. to the
U.S., the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The Strasbourg court
held there would be no violation of human rights for those facing life
or solitary confinement in certain prison conditions.
The court's ruling could be appealed to its final Grand Chamber. In practice, very few cases are reheard in that final forum.
The men have three months to convince the Grand Chamber to reopen the entire case and examine it. If the men fail to launch an appeal, they will be extradited to the U.S.
The case of Haroon Rashid Aswat has been adjourned, as the judges need to see more submissions on his alleged schizophrenia, and how that would be treated were he sent to the U.S.
All six had appealed against any U.S. extradition as they say on arrival they might be held in a notorious high-security prison in Colorado, known as a "supermax" prison. They say that if they are convicted, there is very little or no prospect of ever being released.
European judges had stopped extradition proceedings in July of 2010, arguing that the court needed more time to consider the complaints that the men's rights would be breached if they were to be sent the U.S., exposing them to life imprisonment without parole and solitary confinement.
Abu-Hamza, a preacher at London's Fisbury Park Mosque, has been accused of inciting racial hatred. He is currently serving a seven-year sentence in the U.K.
Abu-Hamza is described by the U.S. as a "terrorist facilitator with a global reach." He was wanted in the U.S. on 11 charges related to claims that he took 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998, promoted violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001 and conspired to set up a jihad training camp in the state of Oregon.
Babar Ahmed has been held without trial in the U.K. for eight years. He has been denied bail since his arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Babar Ahmed is Britain's longest held prisoner without trial. He denies terror-related charges. In an interview he has declared that, "I do not hold the Americans responsible for anything that has happened to me but I think it is fair to say that I am fighting for my life - and I am running out of time."
In a statement his supporters and family say they will fight the ruling.
"We are very disappointed with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. While the decision deals with the issue of prison conditions in the U.S., the fundamental question remains as to why this matter has even got to Strasbourg and why Babar even needs to be extradited to the US," said the statement.
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