Intelligence

Blair 'broke promise' on terrorist suspects

Times Online - Newspaper Edition

By Daniel McGrory

THE ruins of the World Trade Centre were still burning when Tony Blair and David Blunkett appeared before the cameras to pledge that they would speed up the extradition of terrorist suspects sheltering in Britain.
However, not one has since been extradited from Britain, despite the repeated requests of more than a dozen friendly governments.

Ministers blame legal delays for the continuing failure to meet the Prime Minister’s promise. The cost to the taxpayer for legal aid runs to at least £7 million.

The case of one Saudi-born suspect, who is wanted by the United States for allegedly masterminding suicide bomb attacks, has cost more than £750,000. Some suspects have been fighting extradition from Britain for seven years.

On September 30, 2001, Mr Blair said that action would be taken within six weeks, adding: “We cannot have a situation in which it takes years to extradite people.”

The number of extradition requests that Britain has received has not been disclosed, but at least ten men are thought to be in custody.

Requests have come from close allies in the War on Terror including the United States, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Turkey.

One diplomat in London, whose Government has been waiting six years for a suspect to be handed over for trial, said: “The system in the UK has now gone beyond farce. We keep being told the system will be revised, laws changed, but nothing happens.

“The frustration is that we are powerless to do anything. In the meantime, terrorist trials in my country are held up because key figures are stuck in Britain.”

Other countries complain that the British authorities have refused even to arrest some men whom they have identified as having terrorist links.

The list of suspects includes alleged fundraisers and those allegedly involved in recruiting suicide bombers as well as some of al-Qaeda’s most influential figures.

Three people on the wanted list are accused of playing pivotal roles in the lorry bomb attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which 231 people were killed.

The family of a girl aged 4, whose father was killed in the attack in Nairobi, has condemned Britain’s failure to extradite these suspects.

Kenneth Hobson, 27, was a US Army staff sergeant who died in the embassy shortly before his wife, Debra, learnt that she was pregnant with their second child.

Sergeant Hobson’s father said he was “totally annoyed” that the men had yet to face trial. “Nobody seems to care,” he added.

The US authorities point out that other suspects arrested in South Africa and Kenya were swiftly handed over to the FBI.

Others on the list are wanted over terrorist plots in Europe.

The Indian Government sent a security team to London this year with detailed dossiers on wanted men living in Britain who were allegedly linked to terrorist groups operating in Kashmir.

The visiting delegation was not permitted to question the men, or to see dossiers held by the British authorities. None of the men named in the dossier from Delhi has been arrested.

Moscow has said that supporters of Chechen rebels are in Britain.

Last month, Igor Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, attacked a decision by Mr Blunkett, the Home Secretary, to grant political asylum to Ahmad Zakayev, a Chechen actor who is wanted by Moscow on terrorism charges including alleged links with the group who besieged a Moscow theatre last year.

Tunisian officials claim that many of the leaders of the banned al-Nahda party are living in Britain. Algeria has also handed over a list of wanted men.

Among the close allies who still have requests pending with the Home Office are the friendly governments that do not want to get involved in a public row with Britain. However, representations have been made to the Foreign Office for action to be taken early in the new year.

One senior diplomat said: “Of course we respect that the law has to take its course. But we are talking years in some cases and we are seeing wanted men able to avoid arrest, let alone extradition. This does not fit with Mr Blair’s pledge to end Britain’s reputation of being a haven for terrorists.”

New British extradition laws that come into force on January 1 apply only to countries in the EU and do not affect al-Qaeda suspects seized after the September 11 attacks.

The European arrest warrant is aimed at securing extraditions within 60 days, or a maximum 90 days with an appeal.

If a request is made to Britain, a judge has to rule whether “the right person has been arrested, the warrant has been correctly completed and the crime is an extradition offence”. Also there must be no bars to extradition, such as the double jeopardy rule. The suspect can appeal to the High Court, and in some circumstances the House of Lords, but the process must be completed within three months to cut costs.

The Home Office says that the average time to extradite someone is 18 months. It costs £125,000. Embassies ask why, therefore, it takes so long to process their requests.

Most of the high-profile cases have exhausted all the legal channels, including the House of Lords, and the files are back on Mr Blunkett’s desk. Under the present rules, the Home Secretary has to review the extradition requests again and allow the suspects’ legal teams to offer further defence.

A Home Office official said that it was “impossible to predict when the first suspect will be extradited”.

US officials suffered the indignity of seeing two high- profile cases thrown out by British judges this year for lack of satisfactory evidence.

The FBI says that it has at least five other requests pending.

December 29, 2003 at 07:23 AM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home