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The Report

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The current affairs series combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations

The Report: Extradition

Extradition

02/09/2010

BBC Radio 4 - The Report, Extradition

Mukul Devichand investigates who can be extradited to face trials abroad.

Mukul Devichand investigates the controversial system that allows British residents to be extradited to over 40 countries to face a criminal trial.

Britain's controversial extradition laws will be in focus again today, as courts decide on America's request for a Kent businessman, Christopher Tappin, to face charges on selling batteries to Iran. In The Report this week, Mukul Devichand investigates who can be sent abroad to face trial and finds that high profile requests from America are just the tip of the iceberg. The system allows over 40 countries to request British citizens without a full hearing of the evidence against them and a third of European requests come from just one country: Poland. Mukul explores claims that Britain's courts are being flooded by requests for petty criminals - for example, the man being extradited to Poland for stealing 20 chocolate bars. Former Home Secretary David Blunkett helped push these laws through in the years after the 9/11 attacks, but in a remarkably frank exchange, he tells The Report that he now "regrets" aspects of the law -- and discusses the need for change.

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