Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Abu Hamza Extradition Approved

The European Court of Human Rights did the right thing in approving Abu Hamza's extradition. The key considerations for the Court were whether life imprisonment/solitary confinement at ADX Florence constituted the EU equivalent of cruel and unusual punishment. If the Court had decided that such conditions did constitute a breach of fundamental human rights, EU states would have been prohibited from extraditing individuals to the US if they might face that punishment. This would have been a major hindrance to the successful interactions of law enforcement in confronting terrorist organisations around the world. I suspect that part of the Court's decision was diplomatic; IE - The Court was keen to avoid the serious diplomatic damage that an alternate ruling would have provoked. Whatever the Court's motivation for approving the extradition, Abu Hamza is accused of doing some seriously bad things. These include accusations that he provided material support to the Taliban/Al Qa'ida and amongst other charges, attempted to set up a Al Qa'ida training camp in Oregon. He needed to be extradited and now finally he will be.


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