Tunisians to appeal against UK-Italy extradition

By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - A British judge ordered on Tuesday the extradition of three Tunisian men to face terrorism charges in Italy, despite defense arguments they risked torture back home if Italy deported them.

Judge Nicholas Evans criticized both Tunisia's rights record and Italian immigration law but said he was sure Italy would act in line with a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that barred it from deporting a Tunisian man in a similar case.

"I am now formally ordering your extradition," he told Mohamed Khemiri, Ali Chehidi and Habib Ignaoua, who face charges in Italy of "membership of a criminal organization for the purposes of terrorism". Lawyers said the men would appeal.

Khemiri and Chehidi were arrested in November in coordinated raids across Europe on an alleged network recruiting young men to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ignaoua was arrested the following month.

The case hinged on the likelihood that Italy would at some stage, either before or after a trial, expel the men to Tunisia where military courts have convicted Khemiri and Ignaoua in absentia of terrorism-related offences.

Judge Evans said there was a substantial risk the men would be exposed there to a breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which bans torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

He also criticized a piece of Italian counter-terrorism legislation, the 2005 "Pisanu law", which allows the state to deport a terrorist suspect before that person can have their appeal against expulsion heard.

"Obviously to allow an appeal, but only after deportation, is completely unacceptable," the judge said.

However, he said he was convinced Italy would alter its practice after losing a case at the European Court of Human Rights in February against a Tunisian man, Nassim Saadi, who successfully argued he would be subject to torture and degrading treatment if sent home.

That ruling would cause the Italian authorities to rethink their approach, Evans said. "There is absolutely no reason to suppose they will ignore that case and carry on as before."

The judge said the case highlighted a dilemma faced by all European governments since the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001: how to deal with foreign nationals they regard as a security threat but who might suffer abuse if sent back to their own countries.

"Seven years on, we have no satisfactory policy for addressing the dilemma," he said.

(Editing by Robert Woodward)