Friday : London Meeting on US/UK Extradition AKA "Judicial kidnapping"

The US wants to extradite Barbar Ahmad *** and Abu Hamza, Their cases will shortly be concluded.

City Circle Events invites you to a panel discussion:

"British Justice for British Crimes? The US-UK Extradition Treaty in Focus",
with Gareth Peirce, Mudassar Arani, Moazzam Begg and Mark Spragg on
Friday 27th April 2007 at 6.45pm at Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place,
off the Edgware Road, London W1H 4LP. Come alonh listen and add your 3 pennorth.

For opponents of the USUK Extradtion /treaty, the key issue here is British justice for British crimes, it is not about the avoidance of due legal process where there is a crime to be prosecuted. While the context of thetreaty has been the "war on terror", the treaty has also been used against "The Natwest Three" working in the City. If there has been insufficient evidence (or maybe unwillingness ? ED.)to bring a conviction for offences committed by British citizens on British soil, then why should they stand trial in a foreign country on these same charges?

The US-UK Extradition treaty signed in 2003 has been widely criticised for being a one-sided agreement. For American citizens to be extradited to the UK maintains the requirement to provide "probable cause", whereas the old requirement to provide "prima facie" evidence for British citizens to be extradited to the USA has been removed.

This removed or restricted key legal protections open to suspects anddefendants, and it was far more stringent than the EU-US Treaty on extradition signed in 2003.

On the other side of the argument, however, supporters would point out that, in essence, the treaty is fair because both legal systems must agree that the evidence is sufficient to warrant an extradition, and both retain the use of a veto if unsatisfied. Moreover, if UK defendents are going to face trail in a US court, then they will retain proper legal rights and representation. And while standards of
evidence may differ in the two countries, this is an insufficient reason to prevent extradition. Finally some argue that the terrorist threat is serious enough to justify the treaty, whatever its shortcomings.

Gareth Peirce is a leading human rights lawyer in the UK. She has represented numerous detainees held in Belmarsh Prison under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, worked to get the British citizens at Guantanamo released, and in the 1980s challenged the miscarriages of justice in the cases of the Guilford Four and the Birmingham Six (not to mention acting for Craig Murray). She asked the government to withdraw the CBE award offered to her in 1999.

Mudassar Arani was born in Uganda and moved to Great Britain in 1972. She is a leading UK Human Rights attorney representing terrorist suspects in Britain, among them the case of Abu Hamza, currently facing terrorism-related charges and xtradition to the United States.

Moazzam Begg is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, who has co-authored a book about his experiences, Enemy Combatant, and is a human-rights campaigner. He acts as a spokesman for Cageprisoners, a Muslim-run human rights organisation that campaigns for the rights of prisoners held at Guantanamo and in "ghost sites".

Mark Spragg is a partner in the Litigation team at Jeffery Green Russell, and heads one of London's foremost fraud and white collar crime practices. He is well known for his involvement with the extradition case to the US involving the "Natwest Three". (see pic)

Free entrance. Registration by email to yahya@thecitycircle.com. You must print out the confirmation and bring it with you, otherwise you will not be admitted on the night. Confirmations will not be sent out after 12 noon on Friday. Please direct any other event or media enquiries to Yahya Birt via yahya@thecitycircle.com or on 07886 487 232.

TIME: 6.45pm – 8.30pm, Friday 27 April (please arrive early as there will be registration at the door)
LOCATION: Main Hall (Ground Floor), Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place,
London W1H 4LP.

Lord Patel suggests that any members / employes of the UK Secret Services, Metropolitan Police Terrorist Unit, Mossad, CIA, NSA,FBI,CGS,BND or their agents make themselves know to the organisers when they arrive and provide proof of their identity.

*****

Corin Redgrave, co-founder of Peace and Progress said on 20th April 2005:

“One of the principle human rights concerns that we, Peace and Progress have, is detention without trial. Babar Ahmad's case is a perfect example of that and how a British citizen can be arrested in this country, severely beaten and tortured by the arresting police, released by the police without charge, with no evidence to bring against him, but nevertheless face extradition to America under conditions where it is impossible for him to prove his innocence, and even face the possibility of torture and execution. It's a form of judicial kidnapping which has been agreed by Britain and America .

Zut Alors! The Important Bit ... How to get there ...

DIRECTIONS TO VENUE: Come out of the Edgware Road Underground Station Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City and Circle Line) on to Edgware Road. Turn left and walk up for a few minutes until you see Cafe Nero. Crawford Place will be on your left. Turn into Crawford Place and number 45 is located on the left a few minutes up. (Probly you will see a lot of shifty guys with crew cuts, lightweight belted raincoats, dark glasses and earphones with pink curly plastic bits hanging about outside - if you do, you know you have found it)

LINK TO VENUE:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse?client=public&db=pc&cidr_client=none&
lang=&pc=W1H4LP&advanced=&client=public&addr2=&quicksearch=W1H+4LP&addr3=&addr1