EXTRADITION ACT – THE McALISKEY CASE

Dateline: 19th March 1998

¨      McALISKEY CASE - STRAW TAKES RIGHT DECISION FOR WRONG REASON BUT BREAKS THE LAW

¨    CASE ITSELF SHOWS HOW GERMANY EXEMPTS ITSELF FROM EUROPEAN AGREEMENTS (EXTRADITION ACT 1989)

¨     BRITONS’ HISTORICAL RIGHTS UNDER HABEAS CORPUS THROWN AWAY TO APPEASE EUROPE

“The (illegal) decision by the Home Secretary not to extradite Roisin McAliskey to Germany was the right decision for the wrong reason. Like any British citizen McAliskey should not be extradited to any foreign state without the same protection of Habeas Corpus that she would enjoy in the UK” says Rodney Atkinson whose letter to the Guardian (with Norris McWhirter) exposed the scandal that Germany will never extradite Germans to Britain.

Straw’s reason - that European Extradition agreements permit him to refuse extradition if it ‘would be unjust or oppressive to return him’ is ABSOLUTE NONSENSE. The treaties (and therefore the 1989 Act) say that it would only be ‘unjust or oppressive’ if one or more of three conditions applied: (Section 11(3) 1989 Act)

      a) by reason of the trivial nature of the offence

      b) by reason of the passage of time

      c) because the accusation is not made in good faith in the interest of justice

None of these apply in this case. The Home Secretary can not therefore refuse to extradite unless he refutes the Extradition Convention - which we believe he should do.

The statement by the Tory spokesman, Andrew MacKay MP, claiming that Germany was a safe place to be extradited shows that he is also abysmally ignorant of the terms of the extradition agreements and of the Ditfort case which exposed injustices in the German legal system.

In response to Atkinson’s and McWhirter’s Guardian letter the Home Office Minister Alun Michael has admitted that:

a)      No prima facie evidence need be presented in this country by the Germans in order to have Roisin McAliskey (or any other Briton) arrested and extradited.

b)      Germany will not extradite Germans (whom they define racially according to blood) to the United Kingdom.

Part III Section 9 Subsection 8 of the 1989 Extradition Act makes it quite clear that ‘evidence sufficient to warrant trial of the extradition crime had taken place’ in the UK, is not necessary where ‘an Order in Council gives effect to general extradition arrangements’ - which it does under the European Convention on Extradition!

“So how can Alun Michael sustain his belief that a critical principle of Habeas Corpus - the presentation of prima facie evidence to our courts to justify arrest - can still be upheld in Britain?” asked Rodney Atkinson.

Atkinson went on to describe European Conventions which have destroyed the British constitution and led to the scandalous case of a certain Brenda Price. “Price was arrested by British police and held on the orders of the Spanish and held for weeks (in the way not even terrorist suspects could have been held) not just without evidence but without even basic documentation from Spain. She was then released, but when holidaying in France was again arrested under the Spanish warrant. A French lawyer said she could not even apply for bail until the Spanish had presented the documents of accusation. This, of course, completely reverses the English legal principle of presumed innocence, not to mention Habeas Corpus”.

The Home Office Minister, Alun Michael, in his Guardian letter justified the German refusal to extradite Germans to the UK on the grounds of the German ‘basic law’ (or Constitution). But Rodney Atkinson asserts “We also have a constitution, a written one, valid for centuries. But that has not prevented EU law over-riding our law - so why should we accept German exceptions?”

Rodney Atkinson points out that German exceptions from European agreements which they sign is commonplace. In his book ‘Treason at Maastricht’ (co-authored with Norris McWhirter) he described how Germany has illegally assumed a spurious opt-out from the Single European Currency even though the Maastricht Treaty provided no such opt-out.

“The McAliskey case shows how the European Treaties which have largely destroyed the British Constitution, the rights of the Westminster Parliament and the jurisdiction of our courts also affect the individual rights and freedoms of every single British citizen. Alum Michael and the Labour Government may be happy with this state of affairs but no one interested in the democratic rights of the British people will be.” said Atkinson.

POST SCRIPT 2002

For details of other ways in which Germany exempts itself from the European legislation it forces on others see Fascist Europe Rising on ‘Publications’ on this site.