Extradition and the Erosion of Human Rights

Since 9/11 the rules governing extradition from the UK to the US have been systematically relaxed, and safeguards designed to protect against injustice have been dismantled. British citizens are extradited on untested charges to face justice in US courts and prisons, but what standard of justice?

There has been little coverage of what happens in US courts and prisons following these extraditions. The conditions that suspects face in the notorious Supermax prisons, along with the use of secret evidence and material support bans raise serious human and civil rights concerns.

Gareth Peirce is a solicitor who represents individuals who are or have been the subject of rendition and torture, held in prisons in the UK on the basis of secret evidence, and interned in secret prisons abroad under regimes that continue to practice torture. Her many clients have included the Birmingham Six, Judith Ward, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, and Moazzam Begg.

Saskia Sassen (@SaskiaSassen| ) is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University. She is the author of Expulsions and Territory, Authority, Rights.  Immigration is one of her major research subjects.

Jeanne Theoharis is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She is the author of numerous books including the recent, award-winning The Rebellious Life of Mrs Rosa Parks and co-founder of Educators for Civil Liberties. She has written and researched extensively on terrorism prosecutions in the US federal system post-9/11. 

Susan Marks is Professor of International Law at LSE.

The Centre for the Study of Human Rights| at LSE (@LSEHumanRights| ) is a trans-disciplinary centre of excellence for international academic research, teaching and critical scholarship on human rights.

The Department of Sociology| at LSE (@LSEsociology| ) was established in 1904 and remains committed to top quality teaching and leading research and scholarship today.

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEextradition

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