10 things about extradition

The Edward Snowden affair shows how complicated the international web of
extradition treaties is. Here are 10 quirks of the system.

1. The world's oldest surviving written extradition agreement - and peace treaty -
was made by Ramesses II of Egypt and the neighbouring Hittites in about 1259 BC.
Sometimes known as the Treaty of Kadesh (following a battle there some years
earlier), the agreement bound both sides to repatriate criminals and political refugees
from the other side.

Image captionThe temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel in Egypt

The Egyptian version of the treaty is preserved at Karnak. Its counterpart was
discovered at Hattusa - site of the Hittite royal palace - in Turkey in 1916. A copy of
that version now hangs on the walls of the UN headquarters in New York.

2. The first US extradition agreement was with Great Britain in 1794. It was not a full
treaty but a single article in a broader treaty which sought to settle outstanding
issues between the two countries that had been left unresolved since American
independence. It only mentions the crimes of murder and forgery. The US's first
modern treaty was signed with Ecuador in 1872, according to Douglas McNabb, an
expert in US federal criminal law and international extradition.

Early treaties often recite a "laundry list" of crimes, while modern ones tend to
specify crimes that have a minimum sentence of a year in prison says McNabb.
Early treaties such as those with Ecuador, Venezuela and Cuba include murder,
assassination, piracy, mutiny and revolt, bigamy, counterfeiting and unlawful
destruction of property such as railroads and bridges. Abortion was added in later
updates.

Many refugees fleeing Europe - including Karl Marx - were offered shelter in
the UK

3. Ingrained in most international extradition laws is the "political offence"

exception, says McNabb. It allows the requested state to refuse extradition of those
accused of political crimes or where that state believes the real motivation for the
request is political rather than criminal.
The first British Extradition Act of 1870 declared that no-one could be surrendered if
their offence was one of a political character. Many refugees fleeing Europe at the
time - including Karl Marx - were offered shelter in the UK.
The European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (1977) limited the scope
of the political offence exception.

4. The former reputation of parts of Spain as the Costa del Crime rested largely on
the collapse of a 100-year-old treaty, which Benjamin Disraeli had a hand in
negotiating. When it ran out in 1978, Spain did not hurry to renew it because it felt
that it had not benefitted, with only a few extradition applications being accepted by
the UK. "Spain uses civil law, and the UK has common law, and Spain didn't really
understand how to make successful extradition treaty requests, which at that time
required prima facie evidence, to the UK and so the relationship wasn't working,"
says Anand Doobay, an extradition expert at law firm Peters & Peters. "So during
this period, practically every criminal in the UK went to Spain." A new bilateral
agreement was signed in 1985.

5. The revival of the extradition treaty with Spain forced criminals from the UK to
look for somewhere else to hide. The self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC) beckoned, being the closest place to the UK with no extradition
treaty. Separated from the Republic of Cyprus, it is only recognised by Turkey. In
2012, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said Northern Cyprus was
emerging as a growing centre for fugitive criminals.

Asil Nadir was eventually sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2012

It was home to Asil Nadir for 17 years after he fled the UK while facing trial over the
collapse of the company he headed, Polly Peck International. But recently, the
authorities have been cooperating with British police to apprehend and deport
suspected wrongdoers. Dubai also became a bolthole for British fugitives, but an
extradition treaty signed between the UK and the United Arab Emirates in 2008 has
made it less of a draw.

6. Brazil had no extradition treaty with the UK before the late 1990s, allowing Great
Train Robber Ronnie Biggs - who had escaped from Wandsworth Prison in 1965 - to
enjoy the sun and sand of Rio for decades. Even if there had been a reciprocal
treaty, Brazilian law prohibits the father of a Brazilian child from being extradited. In
1981, Biggs was kidnapped in Rio by a group of former British soldiers working for a
security firm and ended up in the Bahamas, where it was hoped the government
would extradite him to the UK. The country's high court, however, sent him back to
Brazil. In 1997, Brazil and the UK signed a treaty, but Brazil still rejected a request to
extradite Biggs. They also cited a statute of limitations that discounted crimes
committed more than two decades previously.

7. Many countries will not extradite their own citizens to stand trial - some have this
enshrined in their constitutions. Russia, for example, argued that its constitution
prohibited it from extraditing Andrei Lugovoi, wanted for the poisoning of dissident
Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Germany also has a very strong constitutional law. If a court feels the request is not
proportionate - perhaps being for a minor offence - the Constitutional Court can block
the extradition, says Jodie Blackstock, director of criminal and EU justice policy at
charity Justice. "The Netherlands also usually seeks to request that a national
accused of crimes committed abroad is tried, or serves a sentence, in the
Netherlands," she says.

France has provided refuge to director Roman Polanski, wanted by the US after
fleeing before he could be sentenced for having sex with a minor in 1977, because of
his French citizenship,.

Former counter-culture leader Ira Einhorn - who was convicted in the US in absentia
for the murder of his girlfriend in 1977 - enjoyed the protection of the French legal
system for a number of years, not because of French citizenship, but because
France holds that trial in absentia is an abuse of human rights.
8. The UK is a "bit unique" in not making the protection of nationals from extradition
a feature of UK law, says Blackstock.
"I think it goes back to empire days when Britons were regularly travelling
everywhere and establishing new lives.
"But even now, with the European Arrest Warrant in place, and where there is a
provision in the EU framework decision that member states can seek for criminals to
serve the sentence in their own country, we haven't transcribed that into UK law,"
she says.

9. Embassies have long given refuge to those fighting extradition. Under

international law, diplomatic posts are considered the territory of the foreign nation.
But authorities take different views on this. When Julian Assange took refuge in
Ecuador's embassy a year ago, the British government considered invoking the
Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act (1987) allowing for the revocation of a
building's diplomatic status if the foreign power occupying it "ceases to use land for
the purposes of its mission or exclusively for the purposes of a consular post".

"Diplomatic immunity exists to allow embassies and diplomats to exercise proper

diplomatic functions and the harbouring of alleged criminals, or frustrating the due
legal process in a country, is not a permitted function," William Hague said at the
time.

"Seeking asylum within an embassy - like Assange has done - is much more
prevalent within South America, where there are agreements between governments
which recognise this. If a Peruvian opposition leader unsuccessfully attempts to
overthrow the government then they can go to the Colombian embassy in Peru and
seek asylum, for example. It's much more common and recognised, whereas the UK
government has never recognised the principle that you can grant asylum in an
embassy," says Doobay.

10. Xenophobia and illicit trafficking in hormonal substances are among the
categories of offences a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) can be sought for which do
not require the conduct to be a crime in the country receiving the EAW. The system,
which has been in effect since 2004, was designed to simplify extradition procedures
and has been signed up to by the 27 EU member states.
Other offences on the list of 32 include terrorism, trafficking in human beings,
corruption and fraud, murder, kidnapping and hostage-taking.