An extradition hearing for a Briton wanted in the United States on charges of raising money to fund terrorist causes was adjourned until next month. Lawyers involved in the case will thus have more time to assess whether Babar Ahmad runs a real risk of facing the death penalty under military jurisdiction if he is sent to the United States. Prosecutors in the United States have accused Ahmad, 30, from south London, of raising money to support terrorism in Chechnya and Afghanistan via websites and e-mails. | 'Scuse me, but I'm fairly sure the US doesn't execute people for fundraising... |
Under British law, a request for extradition can be denied if there is no guarantee that a suspect, if convicted, will be executed. "We accept submissions made that if he were transferred to military jurisdiction, there is no apparent bar to the imposition of the death penalty or transfer to a third state," said John Hardy, acting for the US government. "So the question is: Is it a real risk of transfer to military jurisdiction?" he asked at Bow Street magistrates court in central London, where the hearing has been taking place. Ahmad's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said the question had to be clarified. "If there is a real risk of transfer to military custody, there is also a grave and serious case that such a transfer would involve a flagrant denial of justice," he told the court. On the second day of the hearing, judge Timothy Workman ruled that a remand and review hearing would be held in London on March 24, with the extradition case to continue on April 18. |