Extradition Act 2003 (Amendment to Designations) Order 2007

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for the robust and useful debate and for the friendly way in which it has been conducted. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, for his kind remarks. I was rather embarrassed by them all, but I thank him very much indeed. I shall try to address all the points; if I do not, I will answer them later in writing. One has to look at Algeria in a very broad context. In the 1990s, it experienced an unpleasant—almost civil—war. President Bouteflika has tried hard to make major changes. As the noble Lord mentioned, he implemented a charter for peace and national reconciliation in 2004, and it is taken very seriously. There has been a revision of the family code, and torture is now explicitly a criminal offence. As Algeria has become what I would call a proper member of the world community, it is under threat from extremists, and the al-Qaeda Maghreb branch left over from the terrorist period of the 1990s is conducting attacks. There was a very unpleasant attack in Algeria only yesterday in which eight people were killed by that al-Qaeda group—a splinter group of the group that is threatening stability around the world and our own country. It is also of interest that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has looked at conditions in Algeria and been content to allow people to be extradited. Specifically on the extradition issue, extradition is of course prohibited by the express provisions of the Human Rights Act as they apply to the Extradition Act. If there is a real risk of torture, the courts will refuse to grant extradition. I am content that that is in place. Indeed, as I mentioned in my opening speech, we have returned people to Algeria. Safety mechanisms are in place there in terms of consular access and access to our embassy, which means that we can monitor the position to that extent. On the US/UK extradition treaty of 2003, this was negotiated under exactly the same rules and according to the normal procedures as all other treaties. The treaty was ratified in 2007 and entered into force on the same day. I believe that there is broad reciprocity, and what is really important is that these steps are in the interests of justice. Given that, I think that it was a good thing to do. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, for his kind remarks. I am not sure whether I would be that good in an eight, but I am willing to have a go at it. I did do some pulling at Dartmouth—we call it that in the Navy rather than rowing—and I would try my best. Regarding his questions on Mustapha Taleb, the Government’s position remains unchanged: in principle, it is safe to return people to Algeria. The Government believe the same in regard to extradition. It is important to flag up that the extradition legislation contains strong safeguards to prevent abuse of the process. It is not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases currently before our courts. I hope that I have satisfactorily addressed some of the probing and interesting questions put to me. If there are any questions that I have not been able to answer during my inaugural debate, I hope that noble Lords will understand if I write to them in response afterwards. On Question, Motion agreed to.