Have you taken note of the fact that a judge in Ontario, Canada has denied a U.S. request to send Abdullah Khadr to Boston to face terrorism charges?
Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer ruled on August 4 that Khadr should not be extradited.
The judge justified his decision, saying that “in civilised democracies, the rule of law must prevail over intelligence objectives.” He suggested that the case is unique.
It is a comment he may well have made with respect to the Ish and Steve matter.
After all, both men, who are citizens of T&T, are facing legal charges in their homeland, in addition to which there is greater interest in the matters here.
Justice Speyer does not stand alone in denying an extradition request from the U.S. I have noted that an application to extradite film maker Roman Polanski to face charges in the U.S. was denied by the Swiss authorities.
In May, the Paris Court of Appeals turned down a request to extradite an Iranian engineer, named Majid Kakavand, to the United States, where he is accused of illegally furnishing Iran with technology for military purposes.
As recently as June 18, Kosovo refused to extradite a Kosovo Albanian terror suspect to the U.S., and ordered his release.
There are several other examples, but the point has been made: That an extradition request from the U.S. is not a fait accompli. The specifics of each case should be examined.
Already, three legal luminaries, including Sir Ellis Clarke, have proposed that Ish and Steve should be tried in T&T.
I strongly recommend that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan should not be swayed by politically-flavoured and emotive remarks. The Attorney General should make a sober and balanced decision based only upon a clinical examination of the relevant issues.
William T. Sammy, Diego Martin
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