Stop the Extradition of Sean Garland

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Briefing Note 4, 8th November 2005
 

British Members of Parliament call for No Extraditions between the United Kingdom and the United States

In March 2005, 124 members of the British House of Commons signed an Early Day Motion calling for an end to extraditions between the United Kingdom and the United States until such times as the 2003 Extradition Act was replaced with a new order requiring the United States to supply prima facie evidence to accompany its extradition requests to the United Kingdom.

Under the current legislation, the 2003 Act, the United States does not have to supply any evidence of wrongdoing to support its requests for extradition. Furthermore MP’s are angered that the Act is not reciprical and that as yet the United States Senate has not even approved the Treaty. They are also angry at the fact that the 2003 changes to the extradition arrangements with the United State were not placed before Parliament, denying them the chance to debate or amend the legislation.

Only this week, the Blair Government faces growing opposition in the Westminster Parliament to its new Anti-Terrorism Bill. There is widespread concern at the draconian nature of the proposed laws, the erosion of civil liberties and the revelation of secret CIA prison camps in Eastern Europe.

This is the climate of opinion in which it is proposed to extradite an Irish citizen, Sean Garland, through a British judicial process which is becoming increasingly discredited. The 124 MP’s are from the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Scottish Nationalist Parties.

A full list can be found at:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=28440&SESSION=875

Briefing Note No 3.
Babar Ahmad - A case study in the operation of the unjust 2003 Extradition Act.
 
Summary:   Babar Ahmad is a British citizen and a Muslim. Prior to these events he had never been arrested or even questioned by police.
 
2nd December 2003:  Babar Ahmad was arrested by police under anti-terrorism legislation. During his arrest and while being held in custody he was badly beaten, subjected to degrading treatment.
 
8th December: Despite the beatings/torture which he suffered he was released on  without any charge.
 
5th August 2004: He was again arrested  - this time on foot of an extradition warrant  issued by the US government. The charges on which the US demanded his extradition relate to alleged funding od terrorism within the UK.
Babar was again held in custody awaiting trial (and is still in custody).
 
The case was heard in Bow St Magistrates Court and lasted, over five sessions, from 2nd March 2005 until 17th May 2005. The presiding judge decided that the 2003 gave him no option but to order Babar's extradition and he sent the order to the Home Secretary (Charles Clarke) to be signed. (However he did note that as the alleged offences took place in the UK, then if the evidence had been made available, the case could have been heard in the UK).
 
15th November 2005, Charles Clarke, eventually, signs the extradition order.
Babar Ahmad has announced his intention to appeal to the High Court.
 
Full Details: www.freebabarahmad.com

BRIEFING NOTE NO 2., 18th OCTOBER 2005

 

  1. Sean Garland is an Irish citizen and is entitled to the protection of the Irish Constitution and Irish law.

 

  1. The decision to “snatch” Sean Garland while in Northern Ireland is a deliberate and calculated attempt to subvert Irish law and remove constitutional protection from its citizens.

 

  1. The British Extradition Act 2003, which is being used against Sean Garland is a controversial piece of legislation.  The Act incorporates the terms of the Extradition Treaty between the US and the UK. It should be noted that the text of the Treaty was not made public until two months after it had been signed which denied the British Parliament the opportunity to debate its provisions.

 

  1. The Treaty and Extradition Act afford few rights or protections to any citizen requested by the US.  They are heavily weighted in favour of the US and are designed to make it extremely difficult for any person to resist extradition.  Not unexpectedly, US citizens are afforded greater rights under the Treaty.  Even where a person is completely innocent of alleged offences, there is no opportunity for that person to contest the charges in a British court.

 

  1. The Treaty lacks reciprocity.  Where the UK requests the extradition of a US citizen the treaty imposes a requirement on the British to provide a “reasonable basis to believe that the person sought committed the offence for which extradition is requested”.  There is no corresponding requirement for the USA.  The US does not have to show a reasonable basis for requesting extradition.  This removal of all protection based on prima facie evidence is a disturbing development and is deeply offensive to our laws and sense of justice.

 

  1. The British authorities also permit the US to take the benefits of the Extradition Treaty but the US itself has not yet even ratified that Treaty.  This is a situation of one law for the Europeans and another for US citizens.  It is, in effect, a one way street.

 

  1. Previously the US had to provide evidence sufficient to make a case to answer to the UK.  This is no longer the case.  Sean Garland could be extradited to the US by a British court without even prima facie evidence connecting him with any crime, removing him to the US where it is well recognised historically that political opponents are unlikely to receive a fair trial.  One need only look at the recent treatment of five Cuban men in a US court who were convicted contrary to the evidence, and sentenced to draconian terms of imprisonment which would be regarded as manifestly excessive in this jurisdiction.

 

  1. Sean Garland will not receive a fair trial in the US.  He has already been subjected to trial by media in Ireland and the US.  US commentators are already speaking of severe sentences of 20-30 years in prison – before Sean Garland has been charged, let alone tried or convicted of any offence. It is important to remember that Sean Garland denies the allegations made against him, that he has not been charged and, in common with every other Irish citizen, he is entitled, by law, to the presumption of innocence.

 

  1. In Europe Sean Garland is entitled to the protection of the European Convention on Human Rights.  He has the right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.  His right to life is protected and he is entitled to a fair trial and respect for family life.  It has been well stated in many cases that persons appearing before US courts have few of those protections.

 

  1. In the case of Soering v UK [1989] 11 EHRR 439 where the UK wished to extradite a man to the US the European Court of Human Rights found that it would be contrary to the spirit and intent of the Convention to knowingly give up a person to another state where “substantial grounds have been shown for believing that the person concerned, if extradited, faces a real risk of being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the requesting country”.

 

  1. Recently, a court in the Netherlands refused to extradite a person to the US to face fraud charges because of its concerns about the suspect’s rights.

 

  1. These are real concerns.  In recent months there has been documented evidence of memoranda and reports prepared by the US Department of Justice authorising torture techniques and coercive interrogation practices, forbidden in international law.  Conditions in US prisons and miscarriages of justice are a matter of record.  There is no prospect that Sean Garland, as a long-standing and vocal opponent of US foreign policy, could receive a fair trial in the United States of America in the current US political climate.

 

Accordingly, the attempted extradition of Sean Garland to the US must be opposed on political, moral, legal and humanitarian grounds.

BRIEFING NOTE NO.1, 12TH OCTOBER 2005

The Workers' Party wishes to express its deep concern at the arrest of the
Party President, Sean Garland, in Belfast on Friday the 7th of October 2005 during the Party's Annual Ard Fheis. There are a number of issues about the manner and timing of the arrest we would like to bring to your attention by way of
this initial briefing (13/10/05), for your information.

1. An indictment was issued in the District of Columbia USA on the 19th of
May 2005. The U.S. Embassy in London subsequently made a request to the British Crown Solicitors for Sean Garland's extradition on the 4th of October, five
months later.

2. Sean Garland is an Irish citizen and lives openly in the Irish Republic.
The Workers' Party sees no reason, if Sean Garland had a case to answer,
that the extradition request did not issue in the Irish Republic. The Workers'
Party now share the view with others, given the generalised nature of  allegations
made in the Belfast County Court on Saturday 9th of October, that US
Authorities had no confidence that such a request would  be granted in an Irish Court.

3. A further issue related to the  timing of the arrest to coincide with the
first WP Ard Fheis to be held in Belfast is worth noting. Sean Garland is
and has been a frequent and regular visitor to Belfast where he has played an
active public role in political life. This extends to meetings with Government
Ministers, Chief Constables and Secretaries of State over many years. He has never hidden during these visits and was in Belfast on a weekly basis in the months leading up to October. We conclude the arrest was timed to seek to embarrass and indeed intimidate Party members and supporters.

4. A further issue for our concern is the widespread erosion of civil
liberties that we have all witnessed in the aftermath of 9/11 and the atrocities
perpetrated against the American people at that time. Many voices have already been raised at a political level in Ireland, Britain and Europe about violation of
National Sovereignty by external interference, human rights violations and attempts to stifle and suppress dissent to US Foreign Policy in many parts of the world.

5. At this time, Sean Garland has not been charged with any offence. The
Judge, Mr Tom Burgess in the Belfast County Court, recorded this. Sean Garland
strenuously denies all allegations made against him. The US Authorities were given 65 days from the 8th of October to provide more detailed particulars. Sean Garland was then released on bail and is residing within Northern Ireland to await these further particulars to be provided to his legal representatives. The Workers
 Party asks the question - Why do the US authorities seek the extradition of
an Irish citizen through the British courts?

6. Sean Garland has been greatly heartened by the messages of support
received on a cross-party basis, from members of the Dail and the Seanad and to learn of the motion proposed by Jack O'Connor, President of SIPTU, and adopted by Dublin Trades Council opposing his extradition to the United States, and also to learn of similar resolutions going to other Trade Union and Municipal Councils. Attempts by TDs Ruairi Quinn and John Gormley to raise the matter in the House are most welcome.

7. It is also widely known that there were two television programmes, or the
same BBC programme run twice, once as Spotlight and then as Panorama, which
could prejudice the prospect of a fair hearing should charges be produced.
The decision of BBC Northern Ireland to re-run the Spotlight programme again on
11th of October, so close to a further Court hearing, is a clear breach of
natural justice and the right to a fair hearing. It is important to have some
further information on the sources and events referred to in these sensationalised
documentaries.

8. The Workers' Party has never denied, or attempted to make secret, its
links with North Korea and its work to promote political, social and cultural
links to Ireland. Over many years, delegations from North Korea have visited
Ireland, and met with Irish Parliamentarians on a cross Party basis. Cultural links
have been established and exchanges taken place. In 2004, the Irish Government
established diplomatic links with North Korea; something which Sean Garland worked to achieve over many years.

9. The main source for the BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight programme and its
only update interviewee quoting North Korea in the re-run of Tuesday 11th
October, is Bill Gertz. Gertz is the Security Correspondent of the Washington Times, which is not to be mistaken with The Washington Post. The Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church. This church is better known internationally as "The Moonies" after its Korean founder, Fun Myung Moon.

10. Gertz is also the author of the book, 'The China Threat'. In the book he
sets out his view that former President Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright
betrayed the American people by opening negotiations with the North Korean Government during the 1990s in order to seek to normalise relations. He further stated that the United States should invade China to prevent their economic and
social development and the rise of the Chinese economy.

11. Gertz also claims in an article in the "World Peace Herald", on 20th
September '05 that the BBC reported 'last year', it learned about North Korea printing supernotes from a 'defector' without mentioning his own key role in the BBC programme.

12. Gertz is also the source for material  which  claimed  a US  'spy in the
sky' was able to eavesdrop on a conversation being held on the ground in
Beijing, China. The conversation was apparently between Sean Garland and  Cao
Xiaobing, Deputy Head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party. The restricted US Intelligence file which Gertz claims to have access to,
allegedly stated, 'unidentified business opportunities were discussed'. This has
become the central allegation made by Gertz and represents the heart of this
alleged conspiracy. An extract from Gertz's book is appended to this briefing.

13. Sean Garland can confirm that he has met with  Cao Xiaobing - his visit
to China was open and legitimate and he has never denied it. Business links
between Ireland and China have been ongoing for a long time.
Cao Xiaobing has visited Ireland and met with members of the business
community and politicians in open discourse. The attempt to put sinister connotation on a legitimate meeting, is no link to counterfeit currency, but more
consistent and typical of the main source in these allegations by the media and Gertz in particular.

14. Gertz, on Spotlight 11/10/05, suggested US documents would be with the
Belfast Court within days. The Crown Solicitors requesting the extradition had no
such information in the Court on Saturday 9th from the London Embassy and the
Judge gave 65 days for such documents. As of today 13/10/05, our legal
representatives have received no further particulars from the US authorities nor have the Crown Solicitors Office in Belfast. Gertz claims that there is a 23  page
indictment which includes the names of other individuals as reported in the Irish Times of 12/10/05. Sean Garland has no knowledge of any of the individuals named in the Irish Times, and in spite of requests from his solicitor, we still have no further information.

15. The Workers' Party hope to be able to say more in coming days but are
operating within the constraints of the legal advice we have received. Our urgent
concerns remain: the lengths that others have already been prepared to go to
facilitate the arrest of an Irish citizen while attending our Annual Conference in
Belfast; the timing and the rush by the BBC to re-run the Television programme for
the third time. The fact that Sean Garland is not charged with any offence, and
that neither the Police Service of Northern Ireland nor the Gardai in the Republic of Ireland have shown any interest in questioning Sean Garland is a critical issue. It
will give everyone, in these islands and beyond, cause to be concerned about
his potential extradition to the United States. This will constitute  a
violation of his human rights, not least his right to a fair trial under Article 6 of
the European Convention on Human Rights.

16. International support has already been received from Parliamentarians in
Britain, Belgium, Greece, the European Parliament and Human Rights Lawyers
in the United States.

17. If you would like to offer your support,  become a Sponsor of the
Campaign now underway to Stop the Extradition of Sean Garland to the United States, or receive further information, please contact:
 
John Lowry,
General Secretary
The Workers' Party,
23 Hill St, Dublin 1.
Tel:  01 - 874 0716
or e-mail:  wpi@indigo.ie



Below is an extract from a Book/Novel "The China Threat" by a Bill Gertz
Security Correspondent for The Washington Times a newspaper owned by the
"Moonies."

Gertz has a long record of being used by elements in the C.I.A/ F.B.I. to
peddle extreme right wing propaganda.  It is now clear from various reports and
statements by Gertz that he is the front man for the CIA in the conspiracy to extradite Sean Garland to the United States.


COMMUNIST CHINA'S PLAN

" Three years earlier, in May 1997, a U.S. Air Force RC -135 intelligence-
gathering jet took off from Kadena air Base, Japan.  The reconnaissance aircraft
bristled with electronic spying equipment sensitive enough to pick out individual
telephone conversations from millions of signals in the airwaves over China.  The jet flew along a flight path parallel to the coast of China about fifty miles
offshore.
 The ultra sensitive electronic eavesdropping equipment militarised Boeing
aircraft swept the airwaves during the nine hour flight.  In secret reports, the
flights are given code names like "Bachelor Warrior," " Beggar Hawk," and "Distant Wind." The plane's electronic ears can hear as far away as western China, into the remote Xinjiang region, where Beijing conducts nuclear testing.  This spring mission produced a rare intelligence gem.  No Chinese interceptor jets
diverted the plane, and a wealth of intelligence was recorded and passed on to
analysis at the Pentagon.

The analysts began the task of separating the valuable material from mundane
military information.  The intelligence was polished and given a code word
that assigned it a rank with the "Top Secret" designation.
"Moray"  is the first level of Top secret.  Then comes "Umbra."  The most
sensitive data is "Gamma."

Within a few days, the intelligence analysts had discovered that a senior
Chinese Communist official had had a secret meeting with Sean Garland, managing director of a Dublin, Ireland, company identified in the intelligence report as GKG Comms International Ltd.  But Garland is more than a businessman.  He is well known to American and British intelligence.

A summary of the report was distributed to the highest ranking officials in
the Clinton- Gore administration in early June 1997.  Among the items it
contained were details of North Korea's first launch of a new antiship cruise missile, Russia's launch of a new generation spy satellite, and a warning from a
Mexican drug lord about an upcoming raid by Mexican troops on a farm suspected of housing drug production equipment.

But it was the following passage that caught the eye of senior intelligence
officials:

Suspected Supernote Distributor Meets with Chinese to Discuss Undisclosed
Business Deal (TSC OC)

(TSC OC) Sean Garland, Managing Director of GKG Comms International Ltd., In
Dublin, met recently wit Cao Xiaobing, Bureau Director- General within the
Central Committee, to discuss unidentified business opportunities according to late May 1997 information.  (COMMENT: Garland is suspected of being involved with counterfeiting U.S. currency, specifically, the Supernote, a high quality
counterfeit $100 bill.)  (W9B2, 3/00/18224-97,ILC)


Aside from his business interests, Garland was secretary general of the
Workers  Party in Ireland.  A telling document obtained from Soviet archives
revealed that Garland wrote to the secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union on September 15, 1986.  In the "dear comrade" letter, Garland stated that
the Workers' Party of Ireland had developed a five year program and asked Moscow to provide one million pounds to help.  The cash would be "of benefit to the world struggle for Peace, Freedom and Socialism."  The document was posted on the Internet by Vladimir Bukovsky, the well known Russian dissident who spent years in the Gulag Archipelago.

The meeting between Cao and Garland in 1997 showed how China had become the ideological leader of what was left of the world communist movement.  U.S.
intelligence officials saw Communist China clandestinely supporting international
communists, including those involved in international criminal activities- even those suspected of developing counterfeit $100 bills.

The intelligence was unwelcome news for the Clinton-Gore administration and
was suppressed, as so many reports exposing the Chinese threat have been
suppressed under Bill Clinton's pro-China foreign policy.  The reports have always been handled the same way.  The standard procedure has been to dismiss such
secret intelligence as "unconfirmed."  When it could not be dismissed, it was
simply hidden or ignored.  Among those covering up for China were White House
National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger, a former trade lawyer who worked to establish joint ventures in China for U.S. corporations, and Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright, a liberal Georgetown University professor whose views of Communist China are extremely favourable.  The Pentagon intelligence report
and others like it contradicted the political line laid down by President
Clinton: China is not a threat, and China must be "engaged" at all costs- even if
U.S. national security and interests are harmed. "



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