Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policy of Clause 1 of Article 4 of the Extradition Treaty between the UK Government and the US Administration which states that Extradition shall not be granted if the offense for which extradition is requested is a political offense.

The consideration of whether an offence for which extradition is requested is a political offence is implicit in UK law under section 81 of the 2003 Extradition Act, which states:

“A person’s extradition to a category 2 territory is barred by reason of extraneous considerations if (and only if) it appears that—

(a)the request for his extradition (though purporting to be made on account of the extradition offence) is in fact made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing him on account of his race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or political opinions, or

(b)if extradited he might be prejudiced at his trial or punished, detained or restricted in his personal liberty by reason of his race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or political opinions.”

The determination of whether extraneous considerations apply is made by the appropriate judge, entirely independently of the Government.