Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Post
December 3, 2007
America has the right to kidnap British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States, Washington has told Britain.
A senior lawyer for the US government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.
The admission will alarm the British business community after the case of the so-called NatWest Three, bankers who were extradited to America on fraud charges.
More than a dozen other British executives, including senior managers at British Airways and BAE Systems, are under investigation by US authorities and could face criminal charges in America.
Until now, it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.
The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington.
Legal experts confirmed over the weekend that America viewed extradition as just one way of getting foreign suspects back to face trial.
The US government’s view emerged during a hearing involving Stanley Tollman and his wife, Beatrice. The Tollmans, who control the Red Carnation hotel group and are residents of London, are wanted in the United States for bank fraud and tax evasion.
--Times of London
December 3, 2007
America has the right to kidnap British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States, Washington has told Britain.
A senior lawyer for the US government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.
The admission will alarm the British business community after the case of the so-called NatWest Three, bankers who were extradited to America on fraud charges.
More than a dozen other British executives, including senior managers at British Airways and BAE Systems, are under investigation by US authorities and could face criminal charges in America.
Until now, it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.
The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington.
Legal experts confirmed over the weekend that America viewed extradition as just one way of getting foreign suspects back to face trial.
The US government’s view emerged during a hearing involving Stanley Tollman and his wife, Beatrice. The Tollmans, who control the Red Carnation hotel group and are residents of London, are wanted in the United States for bank fraud and tax evasion.
--Times of London