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A known exemption to extradition laws is the death penalty. Being that it is illegal in Europe, European countries will refuse to extradite people accused of ca

A known exemption to extradition laws is the death penalty. Being that it is illegal in Europe, European countries will refuse to extradite people accused of capital crimes to the US unless the US government commits to taking the death penalty of the table. Old reference, might be out-of-date, but I think it’s still mostly true: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/u-s-death-penalty-could-prove-hurdle-to-extradition-of-terror-suspects-from-britain https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/u-s-death-penalty-could...

Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
The UK gov's own website is a good source ;-) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extradition-processes-and-review https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extradition-processes-and-review > Extradition is prohibited by statute if: > the person could face the death penalty (unless the Secretary of State gets adequate written assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or, if imposed, will not be carried out) EDIT: The UK has also denied extraction even though the death penalty is off the table. Example being Gary McKinnon. C+P from Wiki > On 16 October 2012, then-Home Secretary Theresa May announced to the House of Commons that the extradition had been blocked, saying that: > Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes. But there is also no doubt that he is seriously ill [...] He has Asperger's syndrome, and suffers from depressive illness. Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights.
monocasa 7y ago
They've been finding interesting ways to soften that policy. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/is-the-uk-governments-stance-on-the-death-penalty-shifting https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/is-the-uk-gove...
- Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
  Its not policy, its law [0]. Changing that would have to be put past MPs. What happened in the case you linked was people with dual citizenship who lost their UK citizenship (Which can't happen if you don't have dual citizenship) were captured outside of the UK (not extradited from the UK) and the home secretary said they will not oppose the death penality. [0] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/41/section/94 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/41/section/94
  - monocasa 7y ago
    They didn't have dual citizenship, only UK citizenship. The UK jumping through this hoop made them stateless, which is against international law. They are UK citizens, and only UK citizens, by birth. And there's all sorts of ways around the law here. Like tacking on a new charge once he's on US soil that they then seek the death penalty on. Then the state office goes "oh no, how could we have seen this coming", when it was the back room deal the whole time.
    - Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
      El Shafee Elsheikh was born in Sudan who's father was a sudan citizen at the time of his birth, Alexanda Kotey on the other hand was born in the UK but would have dual citizenship in Ghana if his father still held Ghana citizenship. > A person born on or after 24 September 1979 and before 7 January 1993 is a citizen of Ghana by birth if— >(a) He/She was born in Ghana and at the date of his/her birth either of his/her parents or one grandparent was a citizen of Ghana; or >(b) He/She was born outside Ghana and at the date of his/her birth either of his/her parents was a citizen of Ghana. Even if their British citizenship has been illegally withdrawn (Which Alexanda Kotey appears to be fighting), the law is about the extradition of people from the UK. They were captured outside of the UK (and even the EU were similar extradition laws apply). My point being the UK Extradition laws arn't being loosened up by the backdoor.
      - monocasa 7y ago
        My point is that the UK government is jumping through hoops to avoid the policy in general. And the law itself only functionally works if you start with the axiom that Boris Johnson's state office wouldn't lie to the British public about the timeline of when they knew and didn't know certain facts about the nature of the extradition. A law is only useful in a discussion of what can and can't happen if there's a meaningful way to enforce it given the people in charge currently.
        Crosseye_Jack 7y ago

Crosseye_Jack 7y ago

The UK gov's own website is a good source ;-) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extradition-processes-and-review https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extradition-processes-and-review > Extradition is prohibited by statute if: > the person could face the death penalty (unless the Secretary of State gets adequate written assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or, if imposed, will not be carried out) EDIT: The UK has also denied extraction even though the death penalty is off the table. Example being Gary McKinnon. C+P from Wiki > On 16 October 2012, then-Home Secretary Theresa May announced to the House of Commons that the extradition had been blocked, saying that: > Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes. But there is also no doubt that he is seriously ill [...] He has Asperger's syndrome, and suffers from depressive illness. Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights.

monocasa 7y ago

They've been finding interesting ways to soften that policy. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/is-the-uk-governments-stance-on-the-death-penalty-shifting https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/is-the-uk-gove...

Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
Its not policy, its law [0]. Changing that would have to be put past MPs. What happened in the case you linked was people with dual citizenship who lost their UK citizenship (Which can't happen if you don't have dual citizenship) were captured outside of the UK (not extradited from the UK) and the home secretary said they will not oppose the death penality. [0] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/41/section/94 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/41/section/94
- monocasa 7y ago
  They didn't have dual citizenship, only UK citizenship. The UK jumping through this hoop made them stateless, which is against international law. They are UK citizens, and only UK citizens, by birth. And there's all sorts of ways around the law here. Like tacking on a new charge once he's on US soil that they then seek the death penalty on. Then the state office goes "oh no, how could we have seen this coming", when it was the back room deal the whole time.
  - Crosseye_Jack 7y ago
    El Shafee Elsheikh was born in Sudan who's father was a sudan citizen at the time of his birth, Alexanda Kotey on the other hand was born in the UK but would have dual citizenship in Ghana if his father still held Ghana citizenship. > A person born on or after 24 September 1979 and before 7 January 1993 is a citizen of Ghana by birth if— >(a) He/She was born in Ghana and at the date of his/her birth either of his/her parents or one grandparent was a citizen of Ghana; or >(b) He/She was born outside Ghana and at the date of his/her birth either of his/her parents was a citizen of Ghana. Even if their British citizenship has been illegally withdrawn (Which Alexanda Kotey appears to be fighting), the law is about the extradition of people from the UK. They were captured outside of the UK (and even the EU were similar extradition laws apply). My point being the UK Extradition laws arn't being loosened up by the backdoor.
    - monocasa 7y ago
      My point is that the UK government is jumping through hoops to avoid the policy in general. And the law itself only functionally works if you start with the axiom that Boris Johnson's state office wouldn't lie to the British public about the timeline of when they knew and didn't know certain facts about the nature of the extradition. A law is only useful in a discussion of what can and can't happen if there's a meaningful way to enforce it given the people in charge currently.
      - Crosseye_Jack 7y ago