Farid Hilali - Spain flouts Law Lords ruling

PRESS RELEASE from ARANI SOLICITORS

Mr Farid Hilali - Extradited to Spain 8th February 2008
Date of Next Hearing in Spain 11th February 2008

We have stated from the outset that there was no evidence to charge Farid Hilali with conspiracy to murder. The Divisional Court agreed on 25th April 2007, when it granted Mr Hilali the writ of Habeas Corpus having decided his detention under the European Arrest Warrant was arbitrary and unlawful.

Regrettably the House of Lords overturned this decision on the 30th January 2008. However The House of Lords made it unreservedly clear that Farid Hilali was being extradited for one offence alone, the offence of "conspiracy to murder".

In the House of Lords' judgment Lord Hope of Craighead stated: -

"28. ... Participation in a terrorist organisation... is not an offence for which the respondent can be extradited.

"30. [...] I would urge the relevant authorities both in this country and in Spain to pay close attention to these remarks. The right to liberty is at stake in these matters."

Yet a gross miscarriage of justice, in stark opposition to the above ruling of the House of Lords, took place within a few hours of Farid Hilali's arrival in Madrid, on the 8th February 2008. He has now been charged in Spain with one count of "belonging to a terrorist organisation"-astonishingly, the very offence for which the House of Lords stated unequivocally that Mr Hilali could not be extradited for and held was an non-extraditable offence.

An offence which Mr Hilali's legal team proved unequivocally in the UK Court that Farid Hilali was not a member of the "Hamburg Cell" or any terrorist organisation, even though this was inaccurately propagated by the Spanish prosecutor throughout Mr Hilali's extradition proceedings. In clear rebuttal of the Spanish Prosecutor's assertion, evidence was adduced from the Attorney General in Germany, the Chief Prosecutor in Germany, the German head of head of anti-terrorism offences, and various lawyers from Germany. Therefore there was no question that the Spanish prosecutor's assertion that Mr Hilali was a member of the Hamburg cell was utterly baseless.

This case is a parody and affront to justice. Such manifest miscarriages of justice bring into question the diminishing standard of 'justice' that UK citizens are now being subjected to under the new "fast-track" extradition process, which came into force after the Extradition Act 2003 implemented the new "European Arrest Warrant" scheme.

"For better or worse"- A party to torture

It seems more probable that the standards of securing Habeas Corpus, essentially the fundamental right of every individual to appear in Court and have the legality their detention heard, the most important legal instrument we have, for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state detention, has been dealt a severe blow by the House of Lords ruling on 30th January 2008. The ruling decided the standards of justice of a foreign state are automatically assumed and allegations of torture and abuse of process are, not atypically, whitewashed, with a disturbing disregard for any standard of due diligence.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture had this to say on Spain’s record of torture:

"The system as it is practised allows torture or ill-treatment to occur, particularly with regards to persons detained incommunicado in connection with terrorist-related activities… He recommended a number of measures to be adopted by the Government in order to comply with its commitment to prevent and suppress acts of torture…. Torture was practiced "more than sporadically" by State security and police forces, safeguards and the investigation of torture allegations were "ineffective". "

We are thus concerned that having secured Farid Hilali's extradition from the UK, his liberty and Article 3 European Convention Rights (absolute prohibition on torture) are being negated for the sake of 'political correctness'. The fact that the Spanish have now charged Mr Hilali for the very offence which the House of Lords held he could not be tried for, is unequivocal evidence that Mr Hilali will not receive a fair trial in Spain.

Mr Hilali was extradited from the UK on the "mutual trust" between member states. Now the very real threat of the use of torture and the flagrant abuse of process in bringing unwarranted charges, indicate a breach of this eponymous 'mutual trust', purportedly underpinning the European Arrest Warrant Scheme. We ask what "mutual trust" is left between the UK and Spain, now that Mr Hilali faces charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation the very offence which the House of Lords ruled he could not be charged which in breach of the speciality rule, torture, interrogation and lengthy imprisonment on trumped up charges in Spain?

Farid Hilali's surrender to Spain last week has only been possible through the wilful disdain and circumvention of our most essential human rights. The attention, or lack of such, that we afford to such cases speaks volumes on the real face of injustice we have to contend with in the UK today and, as such, demands immediate and assiduous attention to such cases.

Press release ends

What you can do

Please sign the online petition - www.petitiononline.com/Farid01/