The Natwest Three have lost their appeal and will now be extradited to the United States under the one-sided treaty established by the Labour government. If there was one action that imported the contempt of the Foreign Office for the British abroad onto domestic territory, signing this treaty was it. Without the need for having a case, the three are viewed as "fugitives from justice" and can be locked up whilst US prosecutors assemble their case. They are designated as fugitives from justice because they fought their extradition:
The NatWest three must now leave Britain for America by midnight on
July 17. Once the three men arrive in Houston they face being locked up
in jail for two years while the case is assembled because they are
viewed by the US as “fugitives from justice” after their legal battle.
Last night, a “very shocked and very disappointed” Mr Bermingham, who has been battling against extradition since 2001, said: “It’s over.” Mr Bermingham said the bankers’ fate was settled when the House of Lords threw out their challenge to the legal status of Britain’s fast-track extradition treaty with America.
He said: “The final nail in the coffin was the Lords’ refusal to take the application. Once we heard that, there was a sense of resignation. That holed us below the water line.” Following the Law Lords’ decision, the Home Office – which made the extradition order in May last year – allowed seven days for an application to be made to the European Court.
Perhaps the three gentlemen are guilty, although sceptical antennae are raised when US prosecutors are still unable to present a case five years after the bankruptcy of Enron. Nevertheless, unless the US has a clear case, presentable to the British courts, no accused should be extradited into their hands. When counter-terrorist arguments are extended to white-collar crime, we know that such measures should be opposed as a threat to all of us.
This has two clear warnings: it will stoke anti-Americanism in one of the few constituencies where there was a sympathetic ear for the US, and it will undermine support for Anglospheric agencies whilst there remains asymmetric treatment for the United Kingdom by the United States. Treat a trusted ally like shit and they eventually turn around and bite!