Abu Hamza

[liadnan]

The London Evening Standard informs me that the US authorities have told Abu Hamza he may face the death penalty if extradited.

Really? Well, that could leave them in severe difficulties, as the practice is, to the best of my knowledge, that extradition is only granted by the UK Home Secretary in such cases on the undertaking that the death penalty will not be imposed: see Soering v United Kingdom (1989) 11 EHRR 439 and Re: Al-Fawwaz [2001] UKHL 69 at para.121, and that conventional practice is probably so embedded now that Blunkett might well face a judicial review if he failed to honour it, on the basis of the principle of legitimate expectations, not to mention section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998, Article 2 of the European Convention and Article 1 of the Sixth Protocol.

This could be interesting to watch.

(For the record, I think Abu Hamza is a prick, a rabble rouser, and a crook, I have no opinion on whether or not he is likely to have been involved in terrorism, and I oppose the death penalty even for those undeniably guilty of the most heinous crimes.)

Edited to note that by the next morning Downing Street had flatly stated that extradition would not be granted unless such an undertaking was given.