Christopher Tappin

[the_lone_wolf]

Searched before posting but found nothing...

BBC said:

Christopher Tappin US extradition due on Friday

A man facing extradition to the US on Friday for allegedly trying to sell batteries for Iranian missiles says he has been "let down" by British justice.

Retired businessman Christopher Tappin said that he was leaving the UK feeling he had fewer rights than a terrorist.

Mr Tappin, 65, from London, has been ordered to go to Heathrow later, where US marshals will escort him to America.

British judges say the extradition is lawful and the European Court of Human Rights has refused to intervene.

Mr Tappin, of Orpington, south-east London, has fought against extradition through the British courts after being charged in the US with conspiring to export batteries which could be used in Hawk air defence missiles.

He faces a possible 35-year jail sentence in Texas - but says that he is the victim of entrapment.

Last week the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in his case. Mr Tappin, president of the Kent Golf Society, was ordered to present himself to Heathrow Airport to be taken to the United States for trial.

There was a much more detailed full page article on this guy last weekend in The Times, and can't help think he's been stitched up

To cut a long story short, he used to run an internatinal freight company, which was approached by another company to ship some batteries to Holland. Little did the client know that the whole operation was a US sting, somehow related to Iran, and when he was questioned he named Tappin as a co-conspirator. Now he faces plea bargaining into guilt or dying in a US prison

Why do I feel the world isn't any safer?

[miniman]

BBC said:

Last week the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in his case.

No of course they didn't, they were too busy intervening to stop Abu Qatada being slung out of the country.

[Esseesse]

Farage mentioned this about a month ago.

[Murph7355]

We really need to get a better grip of our extradition policies it would seem.

As for the ECHR...

[mdavids]

So we now have:

Christopher Taphin
The natwest three http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NatWest_Three
Gary McKinnon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon
Richard O Dwyer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Dwyer

All subject to unbelievably draconian extradition policies. We can't even extradite genuine terrorists for fear of harming their human rights yet these relatively harmless cases have to face an inhuman U.S. prison system.

It's an absolute disgrace.

[ge0rge]

What are the laws against selling other countrys products? Why should the USA get involved if he has no real relation to them, i.e. were the parts were to be shipped from the US?

I do feel the US seem to think they can police the world though and although they might see Iran as a threat i dont see what business it is of theirs to think they can stop someone else from a different country trying to create business? Why should USA control the world?

[vonuber]

ge0rge said:

Why should the USA be the only country that can sell stuff to 'rogue' countries before subsequently blowing them up; then moving in with their own companies to rebuild it at a fat profit?

EFA.

Edited by vonuber on Friday 24th February 13:10

[TheHeretic]

Selling batteries is illegal?

[thinfourth2]

Selling anything that ends up in Iran is illegal as far as the USA is concerned

[TheHeretic]

thinfourth2 said:

Selling anything that ends up in Iran is illegal as far as the USA is concerned

That is all very well and good, but why do the US have jurisdiction over something entirely foreign? I can't figure out what their involvement is. Was the deal done in the US? Were the batteries from the US? Is it actually illegal for a British person to be a middle man, or a direct seller to something to Iran?

[carmonk]

mdavids said:

So we now have:

Christopher Taphin
The natwest three http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NatWest_Three
Gary McKinnon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon
Richard O Dwyer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Dwyer

All subject to unbelievably draconian extradition policies. We can't even extradite genuine terrorists for fear of harming their human rights yet these relatively harmless cases have to face an inhuman U.S. prison system.

It's an absolute disgrace.

They explained on the news that not only would he be held in prison, he'd be held in general population in a US high security prison, which is the most hostile environment you could imagine. He is being extradited without any chance to see or contest the evidence, too.

So foreign murderers, rapists and terrorists are routinely allowed to stay in this country yet innocent UK citizens are shipped off without even a second thought.

There's a pecking order in this country, with foreign criminals and scrouging immigrants at the top and decent UK-born citizens at the bottom. fking putrid.

[carmonk]

TheHeretic said:

thinfourth2 said:

Selling anything that ends up in Iran is illegal as far as the USA is concerned

That is all very well and good, but why do the US have jurisdiction over something entirely foreign? I can't figure out what their involvement is. Was the deal done in the US? Were the batteries from the US? Is it actually illegal for a British person to be a middle man, or a direct seller to something to Iran?

Maybe we should arrest them for arming the Taliban?

[AndyACB]

TheHeretic said:

That is all very well and good, but why do the US have jurisdiction over something entirely foreign? I can't figure out what their involvement is. Was the deal done in the US? Were the batteries from the US? Is it actually illegal for a British person to be a middle man, or a direct seller to something to Iran?

The batteries came from an American firm Eagle Picher who make stuff for defence industry as well as commercial transport uses.

Reading up on the case it looks like it's been on the go for several years and two of his co-defendants took 2 year prison sentences rather than fight it out. This chap it seems believes he is not guilty and has fought ever since to clear his name. Unfortunately to do so he is risking a long time in a US jail awaiting trial or pleading guilty and taking a couple of years in jail or fighting and losing and dying in a US prison.

The US has jurisdiction because they police the trade embargo.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Esseesse said:

Farage mentioned this about a month ago.

No wonder Tappin's in trouble....

[tubbystu]

AndyACB said:

The US has jurisdiction because any perceived criminal offence initiated there.

EFA

Whether he is complicit or not, it does seem very odd that there is no requirement for any evidence behind the extradition request to be put before a UK court.

[Mr_B]

mdavids said:

So we now have:

Christopher Taphin
The natwest three http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NatWest_Three
Gary McKinnon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon
Richard O Dwyer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Dwyer

All subject to unbelievably draconian extradition policies. We can't even extradite genuine terrorists for fear of harming their human rights yet these relatively harmless cases have to face an inhuman U.S. prison system.

It's an absolute disgrace.

It was the NatWest Three that makes me think twice in these cases. They were all over the TV trying to get public support and feeding the line that their country and sold them out and they were totally innocent. There was something really quite nasty about they way they tried to con the public as well and stir up some kinda Britain Vs America effect. They had some sympathy, right up until the point they pleaded guilty.

[AndyACB]

Mr_B said:

They had some sympathy, right up until the point they pleaded guilty.

Unfortunately the way things are, it was probably better for them to plead guilty and take the hit than sit out in prison awaiting trial for possibly a longer period.

[Alex]

This is outrageous and unacceptable. Cameron, if he had any spine at all, would scrap the extradition treaty with the US immediately and renegotiate the terms.

[Deva Link]

the_lone_wolf said:

To cut a long story short, he used to run an internatinal freight company ...

...the company consisted of him and his wife.

He's a wheeler dealer really, and he seems to have done pretty well for himself. I'm involved in hi-tech stuff and everyone knows you have to be so, so careful regarding re-selling American technology.

It's very difficult to get to the bottom of this case, but if the suggestions of the amounts of money involved are true then he must have realised it was a bit dodgy.

[Wombat3]

Deva Link said:

...the company consisted of him and his wife.

He's a wheeler dealer really, and he seems to have done pretty well for himself. I'm involved in hi-tech stuff and everyone knows you have to be so, so careful regarding re-selling American technology.

It's very difficult to get to the bottom of this case, but if the suggestions of the amounts of money involved are true then he must have realised it was a bit dodgy.

'zactly. Something is not quite right with this. Noted that he's not claiming that he shouldn't be on trial at all - only that he should be tried in the UK. He says he's been the victime of a sting operation - well however it came about, he was still involved in shifting this restricted kit from "A" to "B". If he didn't do his research as to whether he should or shouldn't have been doing that then who's fault is it?

Is it the first arms related shipment he's ever made? It would seem not......

Read somewhere that while about 95 people have been extradited to the US from the UK under this act (presumably including the likes of that bloke that murdered his wife & kid in New England a year or two back), about 45 or 50 have also come the other way.....