Extradition Act 2003 (Amendment to Designations) Order 2008

My Lords, we on these Benches support measures that deal with globalised crime. As the Minister pointed out, for countries that perhaps have particular attractions for criminals dealing with financial matters, it is important that the extradition treaty is concluded. I have a couple of concerns. The treaty allows the UK Government to extradite any of its citizens for a crime which is punishable by one year or more in prison, as the Minister said, as long as the request for the citizen is made by a competent court in the requesting country. First, how are we to judge a competent court? The US State Department's latest annual human rights report stipulates that the judiciary of the UAE is not fully independent. It states: "““The constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, in practice it was not independent, as decisions were subject to review by the political leadership””." The report also states: "““Current law permits indefinite, routine, incommunicado detention without appeal””." I have had a few cases brought to my attention. I will just quote one for the record. Amnesty has outlined a recent appeal from 30 May this year which relates to a Pakistan national, Rafat Usmani, who was arrested and detained on 28 May and says that he was tortured the same day. The authorities have denied holding him in custody, but there are concerns that he has been subjected to enforced disappearance. He lived and worked in the Emirate of Dubai for more than 12 years. Over the course of 2008, he had been in communication with the Office of the Auditors—a quasi judicial body under the control of the ruler of Dubai, which deals with financial offences—in relation to financial irregularities that are alleged to have taken place at his former workplace. His representative in these procedures has been an American lawyer. He was summoned to the Office of the Auditors on 28 May. He was told that the summons was for him to collect his passport and sign a number of forms in connection with the application to change his employment sponsorship. He went to the office with his wife’s brother and wife who are American citizens. One hour after their arrival the two women were told that they must leave—they had waited outside—but that Rafat Usmani must remain. They were told: "““We will teach you Americans a lesson””." Later that day Rafat Usmani was brought home by a group of men. He was in a very emotional state and claimed that he had been tortured. At that point he was taken away and was therefore not able to provide further details. His family has since made extensive inquiries of the authorities, but they have denied having him in custody. He has medical conditions including high blood pressure. Naturally, his family are very concerned about him. I quote this case to illustrate that there are matters of arrest, detention and trial that need careful, case-by-case assessment. These matters are very serious and examination, if an extradition was to take place to the UAE, should take place against a background of the knowledge of the sort of thing that is alleged to have taken place there.