Joshua Rozenberg’s analysis of the findings of the extradition review fails to mention one of the key grievances campaigners have against it - it found that there is no need to introduce the ‘forum bar’ to extradition into law.

A forum bar would allow British courts to block extradition if a significant part of the alleged offence took place in the UK. In June, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights observed that the forum bar had already been agreed by parliament and that the government should bring forward the relevant legislation.

The forum amendment to the treaty was supported by every senior member of the present cabinet while in opposition – with the current attorney general and solicitor general both having spoken at length in favour of the amendment.

A forum bar would prevent the extradition of British citizens such as Gary McKinnon and Babar Ahmad, whose alleged crimes were said to have been primarily committed in the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service has decided not to prosecute either man. In Ahmad’s case, it concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge him with an offence.

In a sign of growing public discontent, more than 60,000 people have signed an official e-petition calling for Ahmad to be put on trial in the UK rather than extradited. Ahmad has already spent over seven years in prison without trial. A parliamentary debate on this is urgently needed to ensure that the integrity of our criminal justice system is no longer undermined by this treaty.

Fahad Ansari, TRP Solicitors, Birmingham