Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Extradition to the USA

Nick Clegg is playing a blinder on the Nat West Three. Here is his appeal for help:

Today we won an unprecedented victory against the Government in a debate on the lop-sided Extradition Treaty with the United States.

Three former employees of Nat West bank, together with south Londoner Babar Ahmed and up to 20 more British residents, face extradition to the United States under a treaty signed in 2003 that grants fewer rights to British citizens than to Americans.

Just four Labour MPs voted in favour of the treaty in the symbolic vote called by the Liberal Democrats this afternoon.

UK citizens can be extradited to the US without the United States having to make a clear "prima facie" case that they committed a crime. Yet we need to meet a much higher level of proof if we wish to extradite US citizens to the UK.

Adding insult to injury, the Government hasn't even convinced the US Senate to ratify the treaty.

The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning against this treaty for three years - ever since it was signed. We were the only party that voted against the extradition rules when they were brought into force.

But the battle isn't over: the Nat West Three, to be extradited tomorrow, are only the tip of the iceberg. Many other extradition cases are in the pipeline, and will be decided under this unfair treaty unless the Government acts now.

Thanks to today's debate and vote, the House of Commons has signalled its clear condemnation of the Extradition Treaty. Now we need you to do the same.

Please write to the Solicitor General and ask him to support my Extradition (United States of America) Bill that would repeal parts of the Extradition Act 2003 and bring an end to these unfair extradition procedures:

Mike O'Brien
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

(Personal letters are the most effective way of lobbying him).

With your help, we can put even more pressure on the Government to take action.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic. With everything that's happening this week, and the Lib Dems priorities are to stand up for rich bankers who are accused of playing a part in a massive corporate scandal that cost the jobs of hundreds of workers and put threatened the pensions and futures of many more. What a great sense of priorities!

Alex Wilcock said...

Bingo! You are Mike O'Brien and I claim my five pounds ;-)

Handily, Jonathan has published above some of the political briefing provided to you, Mr Solicitor-General, which you've just regurgitated almost word-for-word.

Missing words: 'innocent until proven guilty', 'no case made under British law', 'lop-sided against UK citizens' and, oh yes, 'the Labour Party saying how frightfully badly treated poor penniless son of toil Lord Levy has been'. No hypocrisy there at all...