please write to Farid Hialai at the address below put his name and write to him
he is being treated badly in Spain
CENTRO PENITENCIARIO DE SOTO DEL REAL (MADRID V) Carretera Comarcal 611,
Kilómetro 37,6 28770 - Soto del Real (Madrid)
Press Release
Arani Solicitors
Mr Farid Hilali - Extradited to Spain 8th February 2008
Date of Next Hearing in Spain 11th February 2008
We have stated from the outset that there was no evidence to charge Farid
Hilali with conspiracy to murder. The Divisional Court agreed on 25th April
2007, when it granted Mr Hilali the writ of Habeas Corpus having decided his
detention under the European Arrest Warrant was arbitrary and unlawful.
Regrettably the House of Lords overturned this decision on the 30th January
2008. However The House of Lords made it unreservedly clear that Farid Hilali
was being extradited for one offence alone, the offence of conspiracy to
murder.
In the House of Lords judgment Lord Hope of Craighead stated: -
"28. ... Participation in a terrorist organisation
is not an offence for
which the respondent can be extradited.
30. [...] I would urge the relevant authorities both in this country and in
Spain to pay close attention to these remarks. The right to liberty is at stake
in these matters.
Yet a gross miscarriage of justice, in stark opposition to the above ruling
of the House of Lords, took place within a few hours of Farid Hilalis arrival
in Madrid, on the 8th February 2008. He has now been charged in Spain with one
count of belonging to a terrorist organisation-astonishingly, the very
offence for which the House of Lords stated unequivocally that Mr Hilali could
not be extradited for and held was an non-extraditable offence.
An offence which Mr Hilalis legal team proved unequivocally in the UK Court
that Farid Hilali was not a member of the Hamburg Cell or any terrorist
organisation, even though this was inaccurately propagated by the Spanish
prosecutor throughout Mr Hilalis extradition proceedings. In clear rebuttal of
the Spanish Prosecutors assertion, evidence was adduced from the Attorney
General in Germany, the Chief Prosecutor in Germany, the German head of head of
anti-terrorism offences, and various lawyers from Germany. Therefore there was
no question that the Spanish prosecutors assertion that Mr Hilali was a member
of the Hamburg cell was utterly baseless.
This case is a parody and affront to justice. Such manifest miscarriages of
justice bring into question the diminishing standard of justice that UK
citizens are now being subjected to under the new fast-track extradition
process, which came into force after the Extradition Act 2003 implemented the
new European Arrest Warrant scheme.
For better or worse- A party to torture
It seems more probable that the standards of securing Habeas Corpus,
essentially the fundamental right of every individual to appear in Court and
have the legality their detention heard, the most important legal instrument
we have, for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state
detention, has been dealt a severe blow by the House of Lords ruling on 30th
January 2008. The ruling decided the standards of justice of a foreign state
are automatically assumed and allegations of torture and abuse of process are,
not atypically, whitewashed, with a disturbing disregard for any standard of
due diligence.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture had this to say on Spains record of
torture:
The system as it is practised allows torture or ill-treatment to occur,
particularly with regards to persons detained incommunicado in connection with
terrorist-related activities
He recommended a number of measures to be adopted
by the Government in order to comply with its commitment to prevent and
suppress acts of torture
. Torture was practiced more than sporadically by
State security and police forces, safeguards and the investigation of torture
allegations were ineffective. [1]
We are thus concerned that having secured Farid Hilalis extradition from the
UK, his liberty and Article 3 European Convention Rights (absolute prohibition
on torture) are being negated for the sake of political correctness. The fact
that the Spanish have now charged Mr Hilali for the very offence which the
House of Lords held he could not be tried for, is unequivocal evidence that Mr
Hilali will not receive a fair trial in Spain.
Mr Hilali was extradited from the UK on the mutual trust between member
states. Now the very real threat of the use of torture and the flagrant abuse
of process in bringing unwarranted charges, indicate a breach of this
eponymous mutual trust, purportedly underpinning the European Arrest Warrant
Scheme. We ask what mutual trust is left between the UK and Spain, now that
Mr Hilali faces charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation the very
offence which the House of Lords ruled he could not be charged which in breach
of the speciality rule, torture, interrogation and lengthy imprisonment on
trumped up charges in Spain?
Farid Hilalis surrender to Spain last week has only been possible through
the wilful disdain and circumvention of our most essential human rights. The
attention, or lack of such, that we afford to such cases speaks volumes on the
real face of injustice we have to contend with in the UK today and, as such,
demands immediate and assiduous attention to such cases.
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[1] http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/nov/un-torture.pdf
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