Extradition Act 2003 (Amendment to Designations) Order 2007

My Lords, perhaps I may also from these Benches extend a warm welcome to the noble Lord, Lord West of Spithead, whose distinguished career has been so eloquently described by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland. He joins a very select band in this House of those who have been born into a police family. He should know that I spent my first five years in a police station in north Wales—living there I hasten to say. When the noble Lord described his interest in small boats, I pricked up my ears as the captain of the Lords eight, which lost by one length along the river here a week ago. I see that some members of the team are with us today and I trust that the noble Lord will put himself forward for competition for a place in our boat next year, with a view to gaining our revenge on the Commons. I have nothing to say on the order regarding Gibraltar and Bosnia-Herzegovina, but I have a great deal to say about extradition to Algeria. We regard the order as hopelessly premature. Existing at the moment is a case in the Court of Appeal involving Mustapha Taleb and others. It was argued in June and the judgment is awaited. The whole point of that judgment is to investigate dangers to people who are either deported or extradited to Algeria. For the Government to bring forward this order at a time when the judgment has not been received is extremely unfortunate. I also draw attention to the latest Amnesty International report published in May of this year about the conditions in Algeria. It is true that Britain entered into a memorandum of understanding in 2006 and received assurances from the Algerian authorities that returnees would not be tortured or ill-treated. But a sine qua non of that understanding was that there would be independent monitoring of that return, which has not happened. Algeria continues to refuse to accept independent monitoring of what goes on in its jails. I should like to know the Government’s response to that. In its recent report, Amnesty International says: "““Torture continued to be used with impunity. There were persistent reports of torture and other ill-treatment in the custody of the Department for Information and Security (Département du renseignement et de la sécurité, DRS), a military intelligence agency which carries out terrorism-related arrests and investigations. Detainees held in DRS custody said they were beaten, tortured with electric shocks, suspended from the ceiling, and forced to swallow large amounts of dirty water, urine or chemicals. They were held by the DRS in secret locations for up to several months, during which they were denied contact with the outside world, in violation of the law””." That is the position on torture. On enforced disappearances, thousands of people disappeared between 1993 and 2002. Dozens of court cases have been brought to investigate what has happened to them, but there has been no response from the Algerian Government. In February 2004, the Algerian Government criminalised free speech about the conduct of the security forces, which means that anybody criticising those forces faces a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years. Victims of human rights abuses and their families, defenders, journalists and trade unionists face a range of other forms of harassment and intimidation. Twenty journalists have been prosecuted for defamation after complaints by police officers. Last September, trumped-up charges were brought against two lawyers, Hassiba Boumerdesi and Amine Sidhoum. Fortunately, in April 2007, that was resolved in their favour. It was an attempt to intimidate and deter them from carrying out human rights work. The noble Lord referred to a treaty of mutual legal assistance. I was talking this morning with that very well known human rights lawyer, Gareth Peirce, who told me that she has been consistently denied a visa and accreditation by the Bar in Algeria, which would allow her to go to that country. She wants to go because seven or eight people voluntarily returned to Algeria in January, resting their confidence on the agreement reached last year to which the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, referred. Her information is that at least two of them have been tortured in the way that I described. The rest have been subject to arrest and imprisonment for varying periods by the DRS, the military intelligence agency to which I alluded earlier. The position is in no way satisfactory. It should be proper to bring forward an order of this kind only when we can be absolutely confident that assurances given by the Algerian Government will be carried out. To do it within months as opposed to years is, as I said at the beginning of my remarks, very premature indeed. I have brought all these matters forward for your Lordships’ consideration so that it is on the record when, in future cases, applications are made to the courts under human rights legislation to prevent the deportation or extradition of people under the powers which your Lordships are being asked to grant today and those powers are being challenged. This is not the moment to bring forward a measure of this kind.