So what is happening now? Can anyone shed some light on why, a 65 year old Englishman accused of supplying batteries to Iran, was taken shackled on board a US flight to a prison in Texas; that well known hell hole for law and order of Troy Davis fame?
For those of us who came many years before from other countries, the British justice system was one of the finest in the world. In the place where we had been born there was none of the decency, humanity and above all justice that England, in all its green and pleasant beauty, could offer. So why is this being destroyed, now?
In his own words Christopher Tappin said of the accusations levelled at him:
'we believe there is no evidence. By virtue of an accusation they are allowed to extradite people from one country to another.'
Am I alone in thinking this a monstrous act? This man may of course be guilty. He may, equally, be not. He needs to be tried in a court of law. In the US he fears he will not be allowed any witnesses as the courts there do not allow people to appear on video links. He will therefore have no one. Not that witnesses will be of any use if Troy Davis's case is an example of American justice. Well, the US is a law unto itself. Let's just thank God we don't live there. But where, oh where, is David Cameron when one of his countrymen needs his help? I expect he's trying to sort out Syria. Or Africa. Or perhaps he's busy destroying the NHS. He is after all a very busy man and can't be expected to take notice of one of his stray citizens. Can he?
Although, then again he might remember that once, long ago, an Englishman wrote about justice and the quality of mercy. That man is remembered still; here and also all around the world. And this is what he said.
'Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.'*
* The Merchant Of Venice
Images created during a blindfolding of statues by the writer of this blog. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
The case of Christopher Tappin is almost universally seen as a misapplication of justice, a symptom of weakness in the extradition laws and a scandalously cynical indifference towards a British subject on the the part of David Cameron and the British government. The action of the US judiciary places us all at risk. It is behaving in a panic mode about Iran and destroying anything in its path to calm that panic.
ReplyDeleteWe do not yet live in a police state, and this appallingly high-handed use of a draconian law should be raised in Parliament.
Professor J B Bullen
Perhaps one needs to remind the British government of one of the salient principles in the UN Charter on Human Rights. It says that a person should be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty by the due process of the law. If any person is treated otherwise merely on suspicion or on an allegation, it amounts to a violation of his human right.
DeleteMCM Iqbal
I need not say that I have many pleasant things to say of America. God forbid that it should be otherwise. I speak to you, as I would to myself. I am a Lover of Freedom, disappointed—That's all (Charles Dickens)
ReplyDelete