Extradition

In assessing whether in ordering extradition there would be a real risk of violation of Art 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the following principles were relevant and ought to be borne in mind:

(i) the test was a stringent one and the burden of proof was on the extraditee; (ii) the extraditee should not be extradited unless the safeguards that s/he would enjoy in the requesting state were as effective as the convention standard;
(iii) it was a matter for the requesting authority where and in what circumstances they detained extraditees both pre-trial and post-conviction; (iv) the importance of international co-operation and maintaining treaty obligations was an important factor;
(v) it was essential to focus on what was likely to happen to an extraditee in his/her particular circumstances;
(vi) punishment that would be regarded as inhuman or degrading in the domestic field would not necessarily be so regarded where the alternative to extradition was that the person sought to be extradited