-Caveat Lector- Thursday February 15 10:42 AM EST Canada Bars Extradition to U.S. for Death Penalty By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday barred the extradition of two murder suspects to the United States unless Ottawa won assurances they would not face the death penalty, which has been abolished in Canada. The 9-0 decision effectively overturned a 1991 ruling that allowed the extradition of two U.S. murder suspects. The court said arguments have since then grown stronger against sending people away to face possible execution. "Canada is now abolitionist for all crimes, even those in the military field. The international trend against the death penalty has become clearer," it said, adding that there were also "hard-headed concerns about wrongful convictions." In the present case, Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns, both Canadians, were arrested in British Columbia in 1995, a year after Rafay's parents and sister were bludgeoned to death in neighboring Washington state. The two men, then 18 and now 25, had told an undercover agent that they had carried out the murders with a baseball bat to obtain the proceeds of the family home and life insurance, about $400,000. The court agreed with the characterization in 1996 by Canada's then-justice minister, Allan Rock, of the crimes as "brutal and shocking coldblooded murder." Rock agreed at the time that they should be surrendered without seeking assurances from Washington state that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. He said Canada could not become a safe haven for murderers. It was a case in which the U.S. legal system ran up against Canada's often more liberal values. Amnesty International and the Italian Senate had intervened to urge the pair not face execution. _________ EcoNews Service - Always online for Ecology, Consciousness & Universe Exopolitics. EcoNews http://www.ecologynews.com/ Prague http://mujweb.cz/www/ecologynews/ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/Vancouver, BC V6M 1V8 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
