Dear Miss *****,

Thank you for your email of 28th October about Babar Ahmad and UK extradition law.

I am grateful to you for taking the time to raise your concerns about the case of Babar Ahmad with me. As you will be aware, each case is dealt with under UK extradition law which contains many safeguards. Although I appreciate your interest, it would neither be legal nor possible to place cases on hold in the way you request. That would involve, in a wholly inappropriate way, prolonging the custody or extending the bail conditions of persons currently the subject of proceedings. However, in order to ensure that the relevant Minister is aware of your concerns, I have written to Theresa May MP, Home Secretary. I will write again as soon as I hear further.

With reference to the UK system, I do think that the Extradition Act passed by the last Labour Government was premature and did not achieve a reciprocal approach on extradition to the UK from the US. The Gary MacKinnon case has, as you acknowledge, been a particularly poor example of the current law on extradition to the US. My view is that the position needs to change, but if there were any future changes, they would not operate retrospectively so Mr Ahmed's position is unlikely to be affected by any reform.

Accordingly, whilst the review is taking place, UK authorities must continue to act in conformity with the existing provisions and statutory deadlines of Extradition Act 2003 and fulfil its international obligations towards its many extradition partners. These are obligations the UK takes very seriously. Failure to comply would not only place us in breach of these obligations but would also jeopardise our ability to seek the extradition of persons from other countries.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to me. I hope that this is helpful.

Yours ever,

Robert Buckland MP