FOI Request Reveals Number of Unsuccessful Extradition Cases from UK to UAE at Cost to British Taxpayer

FOI Request Reveals Number of Unsuccessful Extradition Cases from UK to UAE at Cost to British Taxpayer

A Freedom of Information Request was recently published by the Home Office detailing the number of extradition requests made to the UK by the UAE authorities. The request asked:

"Detailed information on extradition requests from UAE yearly for the last 5 years, 2013-2017, including:   

1. Number of extradition requests from the UAE;

2. Number of extradition requests from the UAE that have been a) accepted; and b) rejected;

3. Number of above requests for serious crimes, including murder;

4. Number of Interpol Red Notices issued against UK residents by the UAE;

5. Costs of extradition requests to the UAE including a) expert witnesses costs; b) court proceedings; and c) legal aid costs;

6. Number of legal aid applications made as part of the above requests;

7. Number of requests where legal aid is provided.”

The answer stated:

“Q1-3  From 1 January 2013 to 31 July 2017, 13 individuals have been arrested as a result of extradition requests made by the UAE to the UK. Of those 13, 1 was arrested in 2013, 3 in 2015, 7 in 2016 and 2 in 2017.  All 13 cases have been discharged by the courts.  Of these cases, one request was in relation to an assault charge and the others were in relation to fraud and theft offences.

Please note that these figures do not include Scotland. The Home Office deals with extradition requests on behalf of England, Wales and Northern Ireland only. Scotland deals with its own extradition cases.

These figures are from local management information, and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics.  As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change.

The Home Office neither confirms nor denies whether any additional information is held and relies on the exemptions at sections 23(5), 27(4) and 31(3) of the Act. Please note that reliance of these exemptions should not be understood as a confirmation or denial that any additional information is or is not held.

Q4  The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested in relation to Interpol Red Notices.  Extradition requests made or received via the Home Office do not specify whether the subject is also the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.   

Q5  As your overall request for information regards extradition requests from the UAE, we have interpreted this question as costs to the UAE authorities of extradition requests made to the UK. The Home Office does not hold this information. This would be a matter for the UAE authorities.

Q6&7  The Home Office has no involvement in legal aid matters and does not hold this information. Applications for legal aid would be made to the Legal Aid Agency, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.”

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