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UPDATED 30TH DECEMBER 2009

• My wife and I face Extradition from Scotland to the Arizona desert in the US facing a lifetime in prison for selling chemicals that are completely legal in the UK. (Brian Howes and my Wife Kerry Howes)

• We are in Edinburgh High court in February we have been told, to argue against Extradition, NO EVIDENCE is needed to be Extradited to the US from the UK. My wife Argued a section 91 point back on September 25 2009, “The legal team argued it would be oppressive for my wife to be extradited as she is not well and we have 5 children. This was after the “Key date for others who face Extradition on the 17th September 2009″ it was argued to be Competent to have a section 91 discharge hearing at any time during extradition proceedings or even after all proceeding have finished and extradition is “Granted”  Lord Reed, Lord McKay, and Lord Osborne decided from my little knowledge that the Law Lords would not of precluded the High Court Judges from allowing a section 91 discharge hearing when it was afforded the Magistrate and Sheriff. So after winning this argument the above hearing was set for September 25th 2009 which was delivered on December 9th 2009 in this “KERRY SHANKS OR HOWES v. THE-LORD-ADVOCATE..“  As you can see it failed for reasons that may form an appeal against that decision. The Opinion of the 17th of September has not been published as of this date, I can only hope that it is so that others will be able to use it to allow a section 91 discharge hearing when needed, I will publish the opinion as soon as is available if ever!

• In Scotland and the rest of the UK the Extradition Act 2003 came into force on January 1^st 2004. The treaty or Extradition Act is being used in Scotland differently than in England in the fact that in England there is an appeal process that goes much further than the Scottish appeal process which manifestly makes it more unfair to be extradited from Scotland than the rest of the UK.
• The unfairness starts from the beginning of the process but here are some examples:
• Kenny MacAskill is the Justice Minister which is fine, Kenny MacAskill is also the Human Rights Minister and The Minister for Legal Aid and I will name the rest later: What seems obvious is that the posts he holds have opposite priorities that are not compatable with each other. Kenny MacAskill has said the High Court is the Supreme court for Scotland in written answers to Jamie Hepburn MSP, SNP back bencher who has helped with questions but is not allowed to ask the difficult questions that will show the true nature of if the SNP party agree with the UK extradition treaty with the US.

Kenny MacAskill has shown a great deal of compassion for the convicted Terrorist “Abdelbaset Al Megrahi”  Yet has not even give a thought for my Wife Kerry Howes or my 5 young children or even myself. My wife and I have not broken any laws yet Kenny MacAskill will not help our case in any way, he has received many letters of support for my family yet they fall on deaf ears. If I were a terrorist then maybe I would be discharged from

.

Terrorist Compassion

Extradition by now! The Terrorist below that received a personnel visit from Kenny MacAskill in prison to discuss his release has not even been bothered enough to look into my Wife and my case that has five children involved. The SNP party and Alex Salmond MP and leader of the SNP party should decide if they agree with the Extradition Treaty with the US or not? and make their position clear to the Scottish public. How dare I make such a suggestion as to ask for a clear possition on the appeal process or the Treaty itself.

Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien. wrote to Kenny MacAskill but only received the no comment reply.

Every SNP member I have spoken to has said they do not agree with the UK / US extradition treaty, so why will they not help my family get a fair hearing? The Crown which Kenny MacAskill is in charge of as one of his ministerial positions says they have the evidence to put my wife and I on trial here in the UK, a different position than that of the Gary McKinnon case in that the Crown says they do not have evidence to put him on trial. In effect Gary McKinnon being sent to the US on evidence that was Illegally obtained in the UK but that is a separate matter.

So the question is? Why don’t we get a trial in Scotland? it’s simple! The Lord Advocates office in which Kenny MacAskill is head of does not have evidence to put my wife and I on trial and this is maintained falsely in order to proceed with our extradition. In our case we can only be extradited if the crime can be punished here in Scotland and that is why the Crown or Lord Advocate maintains these lies in order to help the extradition.

What I write is probably not pleasing the Scottish Government who would surely rather me still be remanded for 214 days without evidence and this was upheld in a complaint against the police that false information had been used to remand my wife and I.

Terrorist “Abdelbaset Al Megrahi” above now drinking champaign and burning the Scottish flag long after he was due to die makes a mockery of the Scottish Justice system which is looking like the Scottish injustice system.

I am starting to wonder even if the free speech I am trying to use is free! when I placed complaints against the Police I was threatened several times by Chief Inspector Brian Rennie who was the head of the so called operation against my wife and I in Scotland, and retired just weeks after my complaints with evidence to go with them unlike our extradition. He was reported to the area Fiscals office or Crown as there is a Crown office with every Scottish Fiscals office. after wasting six months all reported charges were dropped and I am told that it is now a internal police complaint. I could of predicted that!

Considine Letter to The Scottish Parliament on rights of appeal

No Compassion from the Scottish Government

The same person above who provided false information for our remand also gave a car of ours away while we were on Illegal remand and then stopped two separate investigations getting our car back and made several threats. A third investigation was initiated by DC Boyce and our car was taken back by the police and put in the Falkirk car pound pending the criminal outcome of the Falkirk Fiscal against Colin Anderson my Business partner who I have not had contact with since our arrest in January 2007. I was told he was being reported for car theft, Fraud and Uttering and Embezzlement. It came as no surprise when all charges were dropped as the Crown is using the same person who testified in our case to our innocence in our extradition proceedings is also the Crown witness against my wife and I in the US. I have been advised that very often the person who is a witness for you in the UK is also a witness against you once extradited. To me this is a disgrace and now we wait a court date to determine who owns the car. fiscal-complaint-response-police-complaint

In the Document above you can see on page 2 Paragraph 3 that the Crown accept erroneous information was used to have my wife and I remanded yet no apology has been received even after requested. It is starting to look like the Scottish Justice system even when found to be lacking in justice will not even apologise for its mistakes!

Unfairness in the Extradition arrangement between the US and Scotland and England below!

• First: in England first there was the House of Lords after the High court, now The Supreme Court of the UK for people in England to appeal to and after that the ECHR “The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg” after these safeguards that I do not accept should be the only safeguards as evidence is a necessary part of the process which has been set aside for the US extradition process. The point I am making is that The Treaty with the US is manifestly unfair to people in the UK but also even more unfair to people in Scotland.

• After a closer look at the UK / US Extradition treaty it does in fact become easy to see that it is unfair to UK citizens but the Treaty is being used in Scotland in a different way than in the rest of the UK.
• In Scotland a mature legal system implementing the same UK / US treaty as the rest of the UK does not comply with the understanding and wording of the extradition act 2003 in that the Appeal process in Scotland stops any appeal to previously “The House of Lords” now ”The Supreme Court of the UK” and even though there is a possibility to appeal to the “ECHR”  The Scottish Government have sent the person being extradited to the requesting state, in this case the US.

• I need to say that again as it is very important to note if you live in Scotland: “The Scottish Government send people to the US or any other country even when an appeal has been sent to the “ECHR” taking away the right to that appeal by removing the liberty of the person or persons being extradited by making sure the person in Scotland is not in Scotland for the appeal.

• It gets even worse: After research it can be said with complete surety that after loosing in the High Court of Scotland which is considered the Supreme Court of Scotland a person is remanded into custody even when an appeal is in process as the High Court must be aware that any appeals will never happen as the Scottish Government will grant the person or persons removal from Scotland to the requesting state, the US in this case.

• A request has been made to the Scottish Government to allow the same appeal route without fear of removal to the US as other people in the UK like Gary McKinnon and Ian Norris and others see Letter to the “Scottish Parliament”.

• I want to make it quite clear here I do not accept that the safeguards of the Appeal process in the rest of the UK as being adequate or that Gary McKinnon should be Extradited as I believe as many other do, that any Extradition to the US without evidence or a “Prim Fascia Case” should not be allowed. I would also say with certainty that even if a Prima Facia Case was produced in a future Extradition treaty arrangement then if a person has not been to the requesting state or the US then a trial should arise in the UK rather than breaching peoples Human Rights when better Route is to preserve the Human Rights of the UK citizen.

• The people of the UK must consider as the UK government must have done if it is in the best interests of UK citizens to allow the US to Use it’s long arm laws and to have more ability to get a person in a US court from the UK than a person residing in the US.

• A person in the UK has little to no chance of stopping their Extradition to the US, but a person indicted in the US can challenge the information in the Indictment before and trial is set or remand considered.

• The UK / US Extradition treaty is a one way ticket to the US and is being used by prosecutors intent on misusing it by requesting UK citizens that have not commited an Extradition offence or any UK offence in many cases, all the time knowing they can change the indictment once the UK citizen has arrived in the US. Any Government which takes the Human Rights away from it’s Citizens should be held accountable in elections and even in the European Court of Human Rights which the US has no regard for I might add.

• The UK / US treaty is a simple removal instrument to please the US government as they are of course more superior to UK citizens, Well they must be as thier constitution stops the Extradition of US Citizens to the UK without first showing Probable cause to the US court before an Extradition is granted.
• Alan Johnson Home Secretary said in a recent emergency committee for Gary McKinnon that no requests had been refused of the UK requesting people in the US. Well it’s what Alan Johnson MP does not say that makes him in my opinion dishonest: What he did not say to that Committee is that all the requests were for people who had committed the crime in the UK or it’s territories. Alan Johnson MP also did not mention that none were US citizens. Alan Johnson MP also failed to mention that there are hundreds of people in the US the UK would like to have extradited but fail to reach the request level as before a request is made the US government must agree to allow the request.
• Another problem with the UK / US Extradition treaty is that under “MLAT” “The Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty” The UK government must use all it’s agencies and I mean all even the local authority to help with any investigation before a extradition request is made and after the extradition request is made continue to help in ensuring that the Extradition takes place, here is a partial list of who is involved in helping facilitate the Extradition to the US.

1. Police
2. The Court
3. The Crown
4. MI5
5. MI6
6. Special Branch
7. SOCA “ Serious Organised Crime Agency” formally High Tech Crime and many other departments.
8. The Home Secretary
9. Some QC’s Advocates, and Barristers.
10. Some Solicitors
11. Social Services
12. Interpol
13. Any agency not listed may be called upon to help.

• Under MLAT the UK police Illegally do searched with and without warrants not obtained through the process that is specified in the MLAT treaty but usually pretending they are undergoing a domestic investigation when it has been a US request the whole time. Then they send the Illegally obtained Computers and other information and property to the US as in the Gary McKinnon case and our case. The reason this can be done with the certainty that no accountability will be needed is in the Extradition treaty: the Fact the person who has had their right violated will not be here to challenge the process as the Extradition court will not!

• The fact that the Extradition “trial” I call it a trial because that is what it really is a “Trial” it’s not a fair trial but that is exactly what it is! The process below can be different in each case but is close to reality.

1. Arrest: Service of international Warrant and local Warrant and Indictment: News coverage of a Biased nature as no evidence has ever been produced: The BBC take pleasure in reporting when there is no facts to report and never report the false reporting they do at a later time after it is shown to have reported false information.
2. Appearance at the local Magistrate or Sheriff to decide on bail and other preliminary matters with a duty solicitor that has no understanding of Extradition and on many occasions with only minutes to see you before you are in front of a Magistrate or Sheriff thus breaching the rights of the person to have a fair bail hearing or even understand what is happening. You are frequently called a Fugitive by the Crown prosecutor even when you by any definition are not a Fugitive.
3. URGENCY of time is stressed at the next preliminary hearing only about two weeks away.
4. By this time and earlier you are already considered guilty by US declaration and by the wording of the UK / US Extradition Treaty. The Magistrate or Sheriff in Scotland must read the indictment and read the information included in it as if it was evidence and then accept it as true. This is not my interpretation of the treaty but the wording of the treaty.
5. So you are in a trial that you are already considered guilty and not allowed any disclosure here or in the US, your life is being destroyed by the very people who are supposed to protect it.
6. You fight for your “Human Rights” What Human Rights? they are mentioned in the treaty but these Human Rights are walked over by the court at every stage.
7. The Bar is set so high for Human Rights on any Article to have you discharged that nobody has ever won on Human Rights when facing Extradition to the US.

• THIS IS NOT FINISHED AND WILL BE COMPLETED WITH LINKS LATER TONIGHT.