Joshua Rozenberg appears not to have read the extradition treaty between the UK and US.
He endorses the contention of Amy Jeffress, US department of justice attaché to the American Embassy in London, that the treaty is balanced by stating that the UK can demand a demonstration of suspicion corresponding to the US demonstration of probable cause.
Article 8 paragraph 3[c] is blatantly discriminatory, in stating that requests to the US must be supported by information providing a reasonable belief that the extraditee committed the offence; there is no corresponding clause giving the UK the right to see that there is a basis for reasonable suspicion.
Instead, the UK must accept the position of the US authorities without prying further.
It might be arguable that a lesser standard of proof is appropriate when the requesting country is seeking its own national.
However, doesn’t the UK owe to its own subjects a duty to protect them from inappropriate charges?
The bias in favour of the US is so shriekingly obvious that the Joint Committee on Human Rights will need ear plugs to avoid noticing it.
Geoffrey Niman, Niman & Co, London N15
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