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Date Posted: 05:57:50 09/04/02 Wed
Author: Guardian
Subject: 9/11 fall-out

>Richard Norton-Taylor
>Tuesday September 3, 2002
>The Guardian
>
>European Union governments are secretly drawing up a
>treaty with the US on issues ranging from extradition
>to undercover police operations in a move which has
>huge implications for individual rights and liberties.
>Shortly after the September 11 attacks on the US last
>year, the EU suggested negotiating an agreement with
>Washington on joint measures to combat terrorism.
>The US replied that the agreement should go far beyond
>the fight against terrorism and cover what it called
>general "criminal matters".
>Documents leaked to Statewatch, an independent group
>monitoring threats to civil liberties in the EU, show
>that the planned treaty will include joint police
>operations, intercepting communications and the search
>and seizure of bank accounts.
>They also reveal that the US wants to make it much
>easier for European governments to extradite EU and
>non-EU citizens by making it harder for individuals to
>plead political immunity and by adopting fast-track
>judicial procedures.
>EU governments have said they are prepared to adopt
>what they call a "modern approach" to the issue, the
>documents show. The implication is that they are
>willing to abandon existing obstacles to extradition.
>The American authorities have been frustrated by
>recent decisions by British courts to block - for lack
>of evidence - requests to extradite individuals the US
>has claimed to be involved in the September 11 attacks
>or linked to al-Qaida.
>The documents show EU governments are concerned about
>the prospect of having to extradite to the US people
>who face the death penalty or would be tried in
>special courts set up after September 11. However,
>they do not rule out providing the US with information
>about suspects it may want to extradite in future,
>even though they may subsequently face the death
>penalty.
>The documents also show that, under the heading
>"guarantees and safeguards", the EU's negotiating
>position with the US makes no mention of principles
>enshrined in the European human rights convention,
>including the right to a fair trial and to privacy, or
>traditional protection against double jeopardy.
>John Ashworth, the US attorney general, is to discuss
>the proposed treaty at a meeting of EU home affairs
>and justice ministers in Copenhagen on September 13.
>The treaty is being drawn up without any reference to
>national parliaments or the European parliament.
>The EU council of ministers refused a request from
>Tony Bunyan, editor of Statewatch, to gain access to
>documents relating to the treaty on the grounds that
>the need for "frank internal discussion" outweighed
>any interest in "democratic control of the negotiating
>process".
>Mr Bunyan said yesterday: "It is quite unacceptable in
>a democracy that a secret agreement should be
>negotiated with a non-EU state, without the European
>and national parliaments or civil society having any
>say whatsoever."
>He added: "This is a primary example of fundamental
>rights and protections built up in the EU over decades
>being put up for negotiation by EU governments to meet
>US demands in the so-called 'war on terrorism'."

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