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There are two issues with the current forum bar, both the product of a lack of moral fibre on behalf of a Conservative party that reneged on its promise when in opposition to fix what they knew well was the problem with the Extradition Act.

The first issue is a simple one of presumption, which may seem unimportant but is critical in that it is for a defendant to demonstrate why he should NOT be extradited, rather than for the requesting state to demonstrate why he SHOULD, when all logic screams for the reverse, in a situation where many countries can now request extradition without the necessity to provide any evidence.

The second issue is that a UK prosecutor can render the entire issue void simply by signing a certificate saying that the individual will not be prosecuted in the UK, in which case the forum bar can never apply. In effect, the prosecutors can decide whether someone will be extradited, rather than the courts.

The forum bar that we proposed in 2006 and to which the author alludes was simpler, would have worked very well, and carried the support of the Conservative Party, the Lib Dems, and the majority of the House of Lords.

That it did not become law was down simply to Tony Blair parking the tanks of his Parliamentary majority on the lawns of the Commons, and three-line whipping his supplicant MPs, many of whom privately supported the amendment.

The author suggests that Mr Love may be praying for the same ultimate outcome as Gary McKinnon, where the UK authorities take no action against him. Maybe, maybe not. As long as Mr Love has no intention ever of setting foot outside the UK, then it might be a good outcome for him. But if he wishes ever to travel abroad, then his only chance of being able to do so without the risk of immediate arrest and transportation to the US will be to get the case dealt with in the courts here, so that double jeopardy will be engaged.

I was recently detained at Rome airport pursuant to the original US arrest warrant that was issued against me and my 'NatWest Three' co-defendants in 2002. It was an administrative error, but Mr Love should be under no illusions that US prosecutors will forget things in the fullness of time. They will not. Just ask Roman Polanski.

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