Extradition to America: shameful, unfair and oppressive

MANY countries, including highly civilised democracies such as Switzerland, simply do not allow extradition of their citizens. They think they should punish their own people in their own way, and that a foreign power with different standards of justice should not be able to reach into their country and snatch anyone they choose. Britain has taken the different view that we may sometimes seek to bring criminals to justice who have fled abroad. And in recognition of this, we sometimes allow our own citizens to be extradited.

But Britain’s agreement with the

United States, made during the Blair Government’s sycophantic flirtation with the George W. Bush White House, on the pretext of hunting terrorists, is shockingly unequal. Crucially, no prima facie evidence has to be produced by the US authorities. Home secretaries, inevitably, come under frequent pressure to refuse to implement it.

And here we are again. Businessman Mike Lynch faces being hauled off to the US, perhaps to endure long months in custody before trial, on allegations of fraud. Yet Britain’s own Serious Fraud Office has not even called him in for an interview. And the US authorities do not wish to wait for the outcome of a civil case in the English courts on the same issue, expected soon. It is very hard to imagine the Americans giving up one of their citizens to us in matching circumstances. Once again it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the current Anglo-American extradition treaty is unequal and oppressive. The UK is a major free democracy, a friend and ally of the US, not a subservient client state. Boris Johnson should take urgent steps to revise the treaty to reflect these facts.