|
Irish News Opin: Activists Ready To Create Stink Over Revised TreatyOpinion By Ray O'Hanlon Buried deep in the New York Times last week was a brief story about extradition. It concerned the order by British home secretary Charles Clarke for the extradition of Babar Ahmad to the US where, according to the paper, he is accused of running websites to raise money for terrorism in Afghanistan and Chechnya. "He would be sent under new laws that remove the requirement that some countries, including the United States, provide evidence," the report stated. The paper's readers were doubtless assured. The United States required evidence before putting someone on a plane against their will. The story, however, was referring to a revised version of the US/UK extradition treaty which, critics contend, would whittle down existing legal curbs on extradition. The treaty was signed on March 31 2003 by the US attorney general at the time John Ashcroft and then home secretary David Blunkett. The revised treaty required ratification by parliament on the one side of the Atlantic and the United States Senate on the other. Parliament did its job in early 2004. But the Americans did not immediately respond. They finally did last week. Sort of. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened to discuss the revised treaty but immediately postponed a vote until next year. This was not out of any particular concern for Mr Ahmad. The senators long-fingered their deliberations in large part because they were confronted with significant and vocal objections from civil liberties and Irish-American groups. "The committee is aware that particular interest has been expressed about the treaty with the UK," committee chairman, Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, told those in the hearing room about five minutes before the session was due to start. The committee will carefully consider this treaty and expects to hold an additional hearing next year to hear from witnesses outside our government. Today, we want to establish a record of the administration's views on the treaty to which the committee and all interested parties can refer as we continue our deliberations," Mr Lugar said. And so it did. It listened to testimony from lawyers representing the US departments of state and justice." And that was it. When he delivered his remarks at the treaty's signing ceremony back in 2003, John Ashcroft made no specific reference to any conflict, group or country. However, Irish-American activists say they see Northern Ireland written clearly between the treaty's lines. Under usual practice a unanimous vote by the foreign relations panel is required before the treaty goes to the full 100-member senate for a decision. However, the Republican leader of the senate, Bill Frist, could, if he so decided, pull the treaty out of committee and into the senate for a vote. So far there is no sign of that happening. The revised treaty riles the likes of Ancient Order of Hibernians national president Ned McGinley not least because of what he describes as its "patriot act-type of language" intended "to frighten people". The US and UK have no problem extraditing people under the existing treaty, McGinley argues. Among concerns voiced by the Hibernians and others are that the revised treaty eliminates an existing political offence exception, transfers powers from the courts to the executive branch and allows for retroactive prosecution for listed offences allegedly committed even before ratification. "No Irish-American activist is safe if this treaty passes," the Hibernians said. The fears voiced by the Hibernians might be wide of the mark. But they are now going to be heard nevertheless. The foreign relations panel had several other treaties and agreements on its agenda during its Capitol Hill meeting. Now it intends to devote a separate session to the US/UK treaty during which oral testimony will be taken from the likes of the Hibernians and the American Civil Liberties Union. The committee's members are certain to listen carefully. One-third of the senate is up for re-election next year and Irish-American activists are readying themselves to create a stink over the revised treaty in states where they feel they can make a difference. The Hibernians still
point to a 1991 US senate vote in Pennsylvania when former Pennsylvania
governor and US attorney general Richard Thornburgh lost to Democrat
Harris Wofford. The Hibernians actively campaigned against Thornburgh over his prosecution of the Joe Doherty deportation case. To this day they claim that their efforts were a key factor in sending Thornburgh into an earlier-than-planned political retirement. http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=508694
|
 |