Law in Practice

In the second part of his article on the attempt by Abu Hamza to avoid extradition, Paul Hynes QC considers the arguments in the European Court and their compatibility with European notions of cruel and inhuman treatment

As we saw in the first part of this article, four men, Babar Ahmad, Haroon Rashid Aswat, Syed Tahla Ahsan and Abu Hamza, exhausted their UK domestic challenges to US extradition, and had to look to Europe for a remedy. 

Is the world of legal expert witnesses becoming deserted?  Has Jones v Kaney [2011] UKSC 13, in which the Supreme Court abolished their immunity from actions for breach of duty, made matters worse? Penny Cooper examines the case…  

Gray’s Inn was the setting for a stirring debate on libel reform in January. The timing was perfect. The Coalition Government was due to publish its draft Defamation Bill and Nick Clegg, only days before the debate, set out the Government’s commitment to libel reform, saying: “Our aim is to turn English Libel laws from an international laughing stock to an international blueprint”.

Chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, the five panellists covered a wide range of issues including: access to justice; the impact of libel reform on UK tabloids; how should libel law draw a distinction between the defamation claims against a blogger with a dozen readers and the defamation claims against a newspaper with millions of readers? 

To defend the Human Rights Act 1998 it is necessary to counter the falsehoods and distortions of those who misrepresent it. Regrettably the Prime Minister himself is among those who have done so, as well as more predictable elements of the media, particularly the Daily Mail.

A recent event that has unleashed misdirected criticism against the Act is the upholding by immigration judges of an appeal against deportation by an Iraqi asylum seeker who seven years previously had killed a child while driving a car. 

In the first of two articles, Paul Hynes QC examines the events leading to the extradition of Abu Hamza reaching the European Court

It is ironic that the decision on whether Abu Hamza remains in the UK or stands trial in the US is to be made in Europe. Although the British first arrested him in 1999, it wasn’t until 2003 that the UK authorities raided Finsbury Park Mosque and the Home Secretary served notice of his intention to deprive Abu Hamza of his British citizenship. 

In the wake of Julian Assange’s ongoing struggle against extradition, Sarah Lewis questions the UK’s willingness to accept European arrest warrant procedures at face value

The case of Julian Assange has put the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) under the spotlight. As a mechanism by which wanted individuals can be extradited from one EU member state to another, the EAW has been hailed as a valuable and successful instrument, cutting the delays and red tape associated with traditional extradition methods that have, in certain circumstances, enabled criminals and those suspected of committing crimes to remain beyond the reach of the law. 

Eleanor Davison examines the role of the Serious Fraud Office under the new regime 

The Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) is currently the lead agency in the UK in prosecuting cases of overseas corruption. Under s 10 of the Bribery Act 2010 the SFO is poised to become the principal enforcer of the new regime and its declared aim in exercising its prosecutorial powers is to generate a cultural change in business so that bribery is no longer acceptable. 

The new Act: a review of the main provisions, by Robert-Jan Temmink 

The much-heralded Bribery Act 2010 (“the Act”) received the Royal Assent on 8 April 2010. Previous anti-bribery law had been a hotch-potch of common law and statutory provisions from 1889 to 1916 which together were difficult to understand, hard to apply and even harder for prosecutors to use effectively. The Act abolishes the common law offences and sweeps away the 19th and 20th Century Prevention of Corruption Acts. 

Following WikiLeaks, Shonali Routray examines the position of UK civil servant whistleblowers. Are there safe routes for whistleblowers to raise their concerns rather than having to rely on anonymous leaks, she asks 

The dramatic twists and turns in the story of WikiLeaks and the release of over 250,000 US diplomatic “cables” – secure communications between the US State Department and American embassies around the globe dating back 50 years – raise some fundamental questions about the workings of Government. 

The proposed changes to legal aid funding will inhibit access to the  Family Justice System for the most vulnerable members of society –  the very people the reforms are dedicated to protect, believes Ian Bugg 

On 15 November 2010, the Ministry of Justice (“MoJ”) published its Green Paper “Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales” and, with it, the Government has introduced possibly the most profound changes to the Family Justice System since the introduction of the Legal Aid Scheme in 1949.