Paris metro bomber Algerian Muslim Rachid Ramda to be extradited from UK to France after 10 year legal battle

Court backs extradition for 1995 Paris bombing suspect

By Simon Freeman

Rachid Ramda, a suspect in the 1995 Paris Metro bombings, today lost a High Court appeal which could spell the beginning of the end for his extraordinary battle against extradition.

Mr Ramda was 25 when he was taken into custody in the UK after fleeing France after a series of attacks in which eight people died and 250 were injured.

He has since spent ten years in custody without trial - at least six in solitary confinement at HMP Belmarsh - a period which commentators say makes the Government's recent bid for 90-day detention orders look like a parlour game.

During this time he has fought off repeated attempts for transfer to Paris where he is wanted as a suspected member of the GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé) for allegedly helping to finance the worst bombing in France since the Second World War.

French police believe that a transfer of £5,000 and repeated telephone conversations link Mr Ramda to one of the bombers, Boualem Bensaid. Bensaid named Mr Ramda in a police interview but his testimony was questioned when he mysteriously developed bruising to his face and head while in custody.

The most recent order to extradite Mr Ramda was signed by Charles Clarke in April. The Home Secretary said that he had received fresh information from the French authorities which made him confident that a fair trial could be held.

Lawyers for Mr Ramda argued last month that the new information was sent in bad faith and insisted that there was a was "a real risk of a flagrant denial of justice". They have warned that their client could be deported back to Algeria where he faces execution.

In a High Court judgment released today, Lord Justice Keene said: "This court is not persuaded that the Secretary of State failed in his decision of April 5, 2005 to exercise properly his powers to order the claimant's return to France."

The judge said that Mr Clarke had sufficient information before him to exercise his statutory and general discretionary powers - "and the conclusions which he reached were not irrational."

"His decision was not ultra vires (beyond his powers) and this application for judicial review is, in consequence, dismissed." he said.

The judges also ruled that, if a fair trial in France required the exclusion of Bensaid's evidence, "the French courts would be bound to exclude it". They also said that there was "no real risk" that Ramda would be ill treated in French police custody.

Lawyers for Mr Ramda are now expected to put in an urgent request to the judges to certify the case has raised issues of general public importance which merit a hearing before the House of Lords.

If the judges grant a certificate, it will be for the Law Lords to decide whether to hear the case. If the High Court refuses to certify, Ramda faces removal to France.

Mr Ramda's protracted legal battle has drawn criticism from Paris, which has accused Britain of being soft on Islamist extremism to buy peace on home soil - giving London the nickname Beirut-on-Thames. It has been compared unfavourably with the swift extradition of Hamdi Issac, the fifth July 21 London bomb suspect, from Rome.

Today's judgement, however, is indicative of a new climate of co-operation between countries engaged in the 'war on terror'. Mr Clarke yesterday ordered the extradition of British computer expert Babar Ahmad, 31, to the US after the FBI said he was a key al-Qaeda fundraiser.

The exasperation of the French with the drawn-out bid was recently reflected by Francoise Rudetzki, who was crippled by terrorist bombings and is president of SOS Attentats, which helps terrorist victims.

She called the Ramda case "a malfunctioning of the British justice system", and, referring to the speedy response of Italy to a British request for the extradition of Hamdi Isaac, said: "What would the British think 10 years from now if he was still in Italy?"

Eight people died in the 1995 attack on Saint Michel Metro station

Two High Court judges rejected Rachid Ramda's claim that moves to deport him were legally flawed.

The 35-year-old is the UK's longest serving extradition prisoner.

Mr Ramda is accused of helping to finance the Metro bombing, which killed eight people, and of organising and financing several other bombings.

The Algerian has fought off deportation for 10 years. The legal battle has caused anger in France.

'Bombing campaign'

Mr Ramda faces 23 charges of financing and organising a bombing campaign in France between August and November 1995.

On a separate extradition request, he is accused of being a conspirator in the bombing of the Saint Michel Metro station on 25 July 1995, in which eight people were killed and 87 injured.

He is also alleged to be a financier of Algeria's outlawed Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

The GIA, which fights the government in Algeria, is thought to be responsible for the 1995 bombing campaign.

Belmarsh

In April, Home Secretary Charles Clarke made a fresh extradition order on the basis that Mr Ramda, who is being held at London's Belmarsh prison, would receive a fair trial.

That was challenged by Mr Ramda's QC Edward Fitzgerald, who told the High Court the decision was "legally flawed".

The High Court hearing in October, which led to Thursday's ruling by Lord Justice Keene and Mr Justice Poole, was told there was "a real risk of a flagrant denial of justice" in deporting Mr Ramda.

Upholding the home secretary's decision that extradition should go ahead, Lord Justice Keene said: "This court is not persuaded that the secretary of state failed in his decision of April 5, 2005 to exercise properly his powers to order the claimant's return to France."

Mr Ramda's lawyers are now considering taking the case to the House of Lords.

Past hearing

In 2002, two High Court judges quashed an extradition order, signed by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett, and ordered the case be reconsidered.

The judges had expressed concern that evidence against Mr Ramda came from co-defendant Boualem Bensaid, said by his lawyers to have been tortured during interrogation while in French custody.

Altogether, there have been nine separate legal proceedings to extradite Mr Ramda.

Supporters of a campaign to block the Algerian's extradition say he could eventually deported from France to Algeria where, they claim, he could face execution.