Home Secretary Theresa May is seeking to change the law on extradition, so that judges and not ministers decide whether appeals on human rights grounds should be approved.
This week, Mrs May has tabled Government amendments to the Crime and Courts bill, which will transfer to the High Court her current powers as Home Secretary to consider late representations on human rights grounds against people being sent abroad to stand trial, such as in the recent case of computer hacker, Gary McKinnon.
She added that judges’ decisions on whether to extradite a suspect or prosecute them in the UK will also be made more transparent to ensure that decisions were “fair and balanced”.
At present, any extradition request is made to the Home Secretary, who makes an initial ruling on whether it should be rejected immediately on human rights grounds, for example, in cases where a suspect may face torture or the death penalty.
If it is not rejected at this stage, the request is passed to the courts to make a ruling on whether it should be granted. The government’s proposed amendments to the Bill will not change this.
However, Mrs May has met the demands of extradition law reformers by tabling amendments to introduce a “forum bar”, which will allow British courts to block an extradition request if they believe it is in the interests of justice for the defendant to stand trial in the UK.
At the moment, such decisions are taken behind the scenes but in future suspects will be able to argue in open court that they should be prosecuted in the UK and not abroad.
Mrs May said that it is in the overwhelming public interest that the country’s extradition arrangements function properly and the introduction of the forum bar will make the process more open and transparent and provide greater safeguards for individuals.