Former Dewsbury man must go to USA
TWO terrorist suspects, including a West Yorkshire man, have lost their High Court battle to avoid extradition to the US.
Lawyers for Haroon Rashid Aswat - who was brought up in Dewsbury - and Babar Ahmad argued that, despite US assurances, there was "a real risk" the men would be mistreated or tried and sentenced as enemy combatants if sent to America.
Dismissing their appeal, Lord Justice Laws, sitting in London with Mr Justice Walker, said the allegation that the US might violate undertakings given to the UK "would require proof of a quality entirely lacking here".
Aswat, a Dewsbury man arrested in Africa, faces trial on charges of plotting to set up a camp in Bly, Oregon, to train fighters for war in Afghanistan.
He has been fighting extradition to the US since being arrested in Zambia and held in the UK.
Ahmad, a computer expert from Tooting, south London, is accused of running websites inciting murder and urging Muslims to fight a holy war and also to raise money for the Taliban.
Edward Fitzgerald QC, for both men, asked the judges to halt extradition.
He argued that there was a danger his clients' human rights would be abused, despite diplomatic assurances from the US Government.
He said the men also faced the risk of extraordinary rendition - the process of removing terrorist suspects to third countries for interrogation - and being held in solitary confinement.
Mr Fitzgerald said they were in danger of being detained indefinitely at the USA's Guantanamo Bay base on Cuba under a military order applying to foreign citizens.
Or they may be tried and sentenced by a military commission as enemy combatants, in what would amount to "a flagrant denial of justice" and European Union human rights laws.
Mr Fitzgerald told the judges they should not rely on assurances given by the Americans that the men would be treated fairly.
