Baroness Anelay

Baroness Anelay of St Johns explains why she has strong reservations about the government's Extraditions Bill.

Why should I be worried about the bill? I am a law-abiding citizen and when I go abroad I behave myself.

Remember what happened to the British plane-spotters? They were arrested in Greece for activities that were just a hobby here - and then had their lives turned upside down while they waited for months and months to have the matter settled?

This bill would give the Greek government the right to demand that we arrest our own citizens in the UK and send them off to Greece to face trial without any case being made out against them.

David Blunkett could not save them because in this bill he has surrendered his right to stop an extradition even when he considers it to be improper or unfair.

And do you remember the story of Derek Bond earlier this year?

He was on holiday in South Africa. He was arrested and held in prison at the request of the United States. He was innocent but a criminal had stolen his identity. We want to amend the Extradition Bill so that could not happen here.

At the moment the European Arrest Warrant only has to show that you are the person the European authorities want "on a balance of probabilities". We say that your identity should be proved beyond reasonable doubt before you are sent off to a foreign jail.

Why should you be worried about the bill? You contribute to a website, and when you go abroad you are a model citizen sunning yourself quietly on the Greek Island beaches.

Because you could find yourself caught out by the loss of dual criminality for vague offences that are crimes in the rest of Europe but not crimes here. E.g. xenophobia.

What if you post on your web-site the view of somebody that it is perfectly legal to express here, but illegal to express under xenophobia laws on continental Europe. At the moment the bill leaves it open for other European countries to issue a European Arrest Warrant against you.

You would be arrested and taken before a District Judge who would have no power to test the evidence against you - he or she will have to accept at face value what the foreign authority has declared.

So you would find yourself extradited swiftly to face the charges overseas with no guarantee of legal aid or access to legal advice and no guarantee of being brought to trial within any reasonable time limit.

Not an attractive prospect, is it?

The government says that they will amend their own Bill when we get to Committee Stage so that newspaper editors will not be caught by these rules. But:

That does nothing for you - internet publishers will still be vulnerable; and

We do not think that the government amendment will solve the problem anyway - as soon as the editor leaves the UK he or she will still be liable to prosecution by the overseas country.

And we are not just talking about the current EU members here, either. The bill will be extended to cover all the new EU members and probably some countries outside the EU.

Still not worried about the Extradition Bill?

I am.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns is an opposition spokesman in the House of Lords.