British Home Secretary David Blunkett said Sunday the extradition to the United States of suspects accused of participating in the September 11 attacks posed a problem because they could face the death penalty.
Blunkett warned Washington that he would not approve extradition procedures unless the United States waived its right to impose the death penalty, the Sunday Telegraph reported here.
"It is nothing new at all, it is all about the necessity of finding a way forward on individual cases where the death penalty in the US will fall foul of the jurisprudence of the judgement made law under article 3 of the European convention for human rights," Blunkett told the BBC early Sunday.
British law must abide by the European Convention of Human Rights, which prohibits extradition’s in which capital punishment could be enforced.
This obstacle applies to all EU countries, including France and Germany, where there have been a string of arrests made in recent weeks related to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"We'll find a way of ensuring that we speed up our extradition laws dramatically and ensure that we are not taking the European convention head on article 3," Blunkett said.
"We will make sure that we do what the rest of the world expect, which is to send people back to where there is democracy, a perfectly open and accountable judicial system," the minister added.
Blunkett refused to say whether he would ask Washington to sign a global agreement on the non-application of the death penalty in extradition cases.
"We are not looking for a blanket commitment but we are looking at how best to deal with individual cases and I want to do that with our friends in the US who understand the position in Europe very well indeed," he said.
At least one suspect arrested in Britain is expected to face charges that may include conspiracy to murder 184 people in the attack on the Pentagon outside Washington.
Lofti Raissi, 27, an Algerian pilot, is accused of training the terrorist who crashed the aircraft into the Pentagon and is also thought to have instructed three others involved in the September 11 attacks -- LONDON (AFP)
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