Treaty aims to speed up extradition process

October 22, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

www.europeanvoice.com

EU and US want to speed up mutual extradition of people suspected of serious crime.

The EU and the US will next week (28 October) sign a treaty intended to simplify and accelerate the extradition of those suspected of serious crimes.

Human-rights defenders have expressed concerns, though, that clauses in the treaty could allow the US to execute extraditees and continue the practice of extraordinary rendition, the transfer of suspected terrorists without the usual legal formalities.

The treaty, which will come into force next year, broadens the definition of serious crime to overcome problems with old bilateral treaties, which, for example, listed rape as an extraditable crime only if it involved a man and a woman.

It also grants greater access to information in investigations of serious crime, including access to bank accounts.

However, human-rights groups fear a murder suspect extradited to the US could face the death penalty since the treaty simply states that member states “may” seek assurances that the suspect would not be executed if found guilty.

A provision that allows US planes to touch down in the EU en route to the US has stoked fears that extraordinary rendition could be legitimised. Read full article…